THE British are coming—and quite eager to participate in the Duterte administration’s massive “Build, Build, Build” program, where the Philippine government plans to pursue an ambitious $180-billion infra-spending bonanza.
“We are quite excited to join in the infrastructure development program of the Philippines… [Thus,] we look forward to contribute in the development of the country’s infrastructure,” Director and Head of Architecture, Interiors and Landscape Bertil de Kleynen of SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins said on the sidelines of the “Designing Future Cities: UK Innovation in Urban Planning and Architecture” business seminar held on February 22 at the Bonifacio Global City.
The company is known as one of the world’s respected design engineering and project management consultancies, employing some 18,300 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. Its award-winning projects include the Burj Al Arab, Bahrain World Trade Centre, Shimao Intercontinental and Landmark 81 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
De Kleynen said an archipelagic country like the Philippines must harness river transport to support movement of goods, services and people. Aside from helping decongest the thoroughfares of cities, he said using water transportation greatly aids in developing greater connectivity with other cities in a more efficient way.
“Hong Kong is a good example of how to develop an efficient and reliable water-transport service. It provides ferries from the outlying islands to the people,” he expounded.
For his part, Associate Director Adrian Marsden of Arup pointed out that improving the service of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 is important in enabling the government to decongest traffic, particularly along Edsa.
By enhancing the quality of service of the MRT and other train systems in the Philippines, Marsden explained that it is the only way to attract vehicle owners to use a mass-transit system.
“In the United Kingdom, people who use cars started to leave their vehicles when they realized the government has developed an efficient railway system,” Marsden claimed.
According to the UK’s Department for International Trade, the British rail industry is considered as “world-class across all elements of rail systems: from the planning and design of projects, the procurement process, specialized equipment supply, construction, test and commissioning, all the way to operations, maintenance and whole-life asset management.” The world’s first locomotive-hauled railway opened in Britain in 1852.
Other companies that participated in the confab were Foster & Partners, Dimension Y and MYAA.