Wijaya Karya Wins Bridge Construction Project in the Philippines

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Manila has participated in the inauguration of the Clarins bridge reconstruction project in Bohol, Philippines (13/3/2018).

The project, which was officially opened by Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Mark Villar, was valued at P 445.7 million (worth US $ 8.74 million), won by PT Wijaya Karya (PERSERO) Tbk in cooperation with Vicente T. Lao Construction (joint venture).

The project is a reconstruction of the Clarins Bridge, in Bohol Province, severely damaged by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in October 2013. The 104-meter-long bridge will begin construction on April 15, 2018, and is projected to be completed in October 2019.

Bohol province is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Philippines, so the Philippine government hopes the bridge development will boost the economy in the province.

In general, the Government of the Philippines under President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has launched a massive infrastructure development project until 2022 known as "Build Build".

The allocation of state expenditures for the development amounted to US $ 180 billion, to increase economic growth per year by 7-8%. In 2017 the Philippines recorded an economic growth of 6.7%, one of the highest in the ASEAN region.

The construction of Philippine infrastructure is based on the construction of a highway and the construction of a railway line connecting the three main islands of the Philippines, namely Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. This has great potential to be utilized by Indonesian companies engaged in infrastructure development and building materials.

The quality of the Indonesian company's work has long been calculated in the Philippines, so on January 22, 2018, Indonesian state-owned company won another tender in which PT INKA successfully sold two sets of Diesel Multiple Unit train worth P485.3 million (US $ 9.5 million) to Philippine National Railways .

This is the realization of President Duterte's plan to build a railroad line across the Philippines for 1,900 km, from only 77 km at present.

In contrast, infrastructure development in Indonesia is also in demand by Philippine investors, including in the areas of highway and road construction, water supply and energy supply. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) in November 2017 increased its investment in PT Nusantara Infrastucture Tbk amounting to P 6.9 billion (US $ 138 million).

The Indonesian Embassy in Manila has always supported various bilateral cooperation efforts between Indonesia and the Philippines, both at the intergovernmental level (G to G) and between private (B to B).