The 3-day 4th PhilConstruct Mindanao opened its doors to the public at the SMX Convention
Center on September 5, Thursday, with 285 booths, putting into perspective the impact of the construction industry on Mindanao’s economic
growth.
“We
have 700 contractors registered with the Board and 60% are based in Davao,” Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao City Director Teolulo T, Pasawa said
Thursday. The distribution of wealth is not trickling down, he said, so it is
pulling its resources to the construction industry since it has a bigger
multiplier effect.
Event
Chairperson Engr. Ramon F. Allado said there may be a similar number of
contractors not registered so it is possible that we have at least 2000
contractors here with close to half a million workforce. Mindanao, he said, is
the single biggest producer of construction workers who are trained here and
are sent to other parts of the country and of the world.
“The
construction industry provides money for the local economy with a 15 times
minimum multiplier effect in terms of suppliers, workers, lodging
establishments and other support facilities,” he said.
Allado said there is a boom in Mindanao construction industry today, especially
in Davao. There are two 300-MW coal-powered plants in full construction in the
Region today, he said, with Therma South’s project 40% completed and SMC Global
Power Holdings Corporation’s project in Malita just starting out. Two more
coal-powered plants in Misamis and South Cotabato will start constructing soon,
he added. “That’s only the power sector eh yung mining sector pa.”
He
said the tourism sector is another big user of the construction industry with
various tourism construction projects going on and many that are yet to be
developed.
Allado said the Department of Education (DepEd) has completed the
public-private partnership (PPP) bidding for 20,000 classrooms in Mindanao.
Sector, which comprises almost the other half of Mindanao with 10,000 classrooms
to be built in one and a half years.
“All
of these spell at least P40 Billion for Mindanao alone,” he said.
The
booming construction industry is one of the reasons why the organizers have
decided to make PhilConstruct Mindanao a yearly event every September. With
more than a hundred innovative suppliers of equipment, technology suppliers,
materials and tools, the stakeholders of Mindanao’s construction industry need
not go to Manila or Cebu to get the latest in construction technology, he said.
Pasawa said “Davao is a very good market for the construction industry with a
2.4% growth per annum, 1.5 million people and vast availability of land that is
seven times larger than Cebu and three times larger than Metro Manila.”
He
said the city has a very reliable 24/7 power supply which is also among the
country’s cheapest at P6 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) (beaten only by Lanado del
Sur) compared to the almost P8 per kwh in Cebu. The city has also consistently
ranked at the top of the Most Competitive Cities Survey by the Asian Institute
of Management (AIM), he added.
