Spanish firm eyes PH subway project

Spanish infrastructure giant Acciona has won about $1.5 billion in railway, bridge and water projects in the Philippines since 2016 and it is showing no signs of slowing down.

Over the next five years, it plans to expand its portfolio by participating in the Department of Transportation’s P350-billion Metro Manila subway project—the country’s first underground train— and build renewable energy projects, ports and dams.

Ruben Camba, Acciona regional director for the Philippines and Southeast Asia, told the Inquirer in an interview their presence in the country was a long-term commitment.

“We believe in the development of the Philippines,” Camba said. “

He said Acciona was planning for projects even beyond the infrastructure priorities of the Philippine government.

Along with energy and transport infrastructure, the company is an expert in water.

Camba said Acciona would be ready should the Philippines eventually need a desalination plant, which converts sea water into drinking water.

“This is going to be the future. There’s a clear need to access water not only in the Philippines but across the world,” he said. The company has built such facilities in Spain, Chile, Australia and the United States.

Acciona, whose history spans more than a century, has a global footprint with a business model centered on sustainable infrastructure.

In Public-Private Partnership bidding during the Aquino administration, Acciona won its first project in 2016: the $127-million Putatan II water treatment plant in Muntinlupa of Maynilad Water Services Inc.

The project was recently turned over to Maynilad.

Acciona is building a second water treatment facility for Maynilad and is part of the consortium building Metro Pacific’s P30-billion Cebu Cordova Link Expressway. INQ