Korea firm completes INC’s P7B arena

MANILA, Philippines–Leading South Korean construction company Hanwha Engineering and Construction has completed what it describes to be “the world’s biggest domed performance hall” for Iglesia ni Cristo.

Quoting a Hanwha E&C statement posted on the company’s website on June 9, South Korean media reported that the Philippine Arena took 30 months to build at a cost of $175 million, or about P7.65 billion.

The structure, which was put up on a 74,000-square-meter tract of land in Bulacan, took 30 months to build and was completed last May 30.

The Philippine Arena has a seating capacity of 51,000, and boasts of a 35,948-square-meter roof, which is also said to be the largest in the world.

The Chosun Ilbo website quoted Hanwha E&C chief executive Lee Keun Po as saying that “[t]he dome arena, which requires a high level of expertise, will boost our efforts to enter the construction and civil engineering markets in Southeast Asia.”

Apart from constructing the building, Hanwha E&C also took charge of designing the structure.

In 2011, Hanwha E&C secured the project after beating Filipino firm EEI Corp. as well as Chinese contractor Jiangsu International, the Korea Economic Daily reported on its website.

Established in 1962, Hanwha E&C has become a global engineering and construction company, putting up structures in the Americas, Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asia, its website said.

It is a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, which is also engaged in chemicals, life insurance, industrial machinery and technology systems manufacturing, as well as leisure and food services.

Philippine Arena is being prepped to serve as the venue of the Iglesia ni Cristo’s celebration of its centennial anniversary on July 27.