Megawide opens second precast concrete plant to reinforce infra pitch

Megawide’s new plant in Taytay town, Rizal province —PHOTO COURTESY OF MEGAWIDE CONSTRUCTION CORP.

Tycoon Edgar Saavedra’s Megawide Construction Corp. has opened its second precast concrete plant in Taytay, Rizal to support its aggressive expansion in infrastructure and meet rising demand in the postpandemic period.

Megawide said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday the new plant would expand its annual precast production capacity by about 36 percent.

“We believe that the additional production capacity of this plant will boost our operations, especially as business starts to pick up following a more robust economic growth and recovery,” Megawide executive vice president Markus Hennig said in a statement on Thursday.

Megawide noted precast orders went beyond its existing capacity before the COVID-19 pandemic appeared in 2020.

“With the country’s ongoing recovery, this new precast plant can provide and meet demand for existing and upcoming projects. It will ensure availability of precast for … infrastructure projects such as the ongoing Malolos-Clark Railway Project Package 1 and CP-104 of the Metro Manila Subway project, which will begin construction this year,” Megawide said.

The engineering and infrastructure firm said it participated in the bidding for other rail packages and was also “in different stages of discussion with several parties” to expand transport-related projects.

Moreover, the company said it would pursue new opportunities in the affordable housing space, which uses precast as its main structural component.

Megawide said the new factory could produce 35,000 cubic meters of precast annually. This adds to Megawide’s current production capacity of 96,000 cubic meters, making it the leading precast manufacturer in the country.

The facility would be dedicated to the production of half-slabs, a basic precast component used for flooring as well as horizontal infrastructure, such as roads and railways. “These two plants will complement each other to ensure efficiency in our operations,” Hennig said.