Megawide eyes P3-B investment in new project

Construction and infrastructure firm Megawide Construction Corp. plans to invest as much as P3 billion to build a new precast concrete manufacturing facility in Bulacan to serve high-rise building and infrastructure construction requirements over the long haul.

This will be its second precast construction facility after the first hub that was built in Taytay, Rizal. The first precast hub was opened in 2012 using part of the proceeds from Megawide’s initial public offering in 2011.

In an interview with Inqui­rer, Megawide chair and chief executive officer Edgar Saavedra said that before the coronavirus pandemic, the company had seen very strong demand for precast concrete from its Rizal hub, mostly for high-rise buildings. While this facility services internal requirements, external demand rose to 40 percent of capacity in 2019.

“The demand was so big that we had to beg off [from some clients],” Saavedra said, adding that Megawide had also built an ­annex to increase capacity.

The plan is to build a new precast plant in Bulacan not just to cater to high-rise buildings but also to prepare for the surge in demand from infrastructure projects, he said.

This year, Megawide will start drawing up plans to build by next year a precast facility with an initial annual capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 cubic meters equivalent to P1.5 billion worth of inventory. This is estimated to cost P1 billion to P1.5 billion.

But if infrastructure and real estate developments come back in a big way, Saavedra said Megawide could invest P2 billion to P3 billion for a bigger facility. During its recent stockholders meeting, Megawide stated its intention to triple its precast concrete production capacity.

The Taytay facility, for now, is more focused on delivering prefabricated concrete for high-rise building components such as walls, floors, beams, columns and stairs.

The plan for Bulacan is to build larger precast concrete for infrastructure needs such as bridges and viaducts. Saavedra said Megawide might be initially needing 20 to 50 hectares of space for this new project but the requirement could go up to 100 hectares to make room for future expansion. INQ