THE Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Co. (AG&P) is interested to play a major role in the government’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program.
“We are setting our sights on the country’s energy and transportation sectors. As the Philippines continues to post high gross domestic product [GDP] in the past six to seven years where income is growing and power demands are on the rise, the country needs to build up its energy and infrastructure capabilities,” said Alex Gamboa, of AG&P. senior vice president for business development in a recent interview with the BusinessMirror.
“Although we will be joining the government modernization program, we will remain focus obviously on the power sector,” Gamboa added.
In terms of manpower capability, Gamboa said AG&P has the capability to provide the manpower for the projects. He said the company has been increasing its through upskilling and integration of best-in-class technologies through its electrical and instrumentation team.
Right now, Gamboa said AG&P has 32,000 active workers in its database such as welders who were trained by the company’s in-house unit and Technical Skills and Development Authority (Tesda). He added the workers are on call for possible local and overseas assignments. The workers are rotated in their job assignments and redeployed in the company’s plant in Batangas.
Moreover, Gamboa said AG&P is going to join a P3-billion road project in Northern Luzon with three major companies as partners. In the past, AG&P built some of the country’s iconic landmarks such as the Ayala Bridge and the Araneta Coliseum.
AG&P’s involvement in the government’s signature program brings world-class standards of quality, safety and construction excellence to the Philippines, gained from decades of experience delivering solutions to some of the world’s largest infrastructure projects.
He said AG&P has been pioneered in modular and on-site construction and the deployment of skilled Filipino manpower to project sites around the world.
“For decades, we have been at the vanguard of industrial outsourcing, taking our expertise to complex and remote projects globally, from gas facilities in Kazakhstan, Sakhalin, Angola and Australia, to oil refineries in the United States and mining sites in the South Pacific,” the company in a press statement.
Meanwhile, AG&P Chairman Jose P. Leviste Jr. pointed out that the Philippines had strong foundations to lead in infrastructure and industrial development because of its advantages such as an educated, English speaking labor force, experienced local construction players and an enviable global reputation as an outsourcing hub. However, he added that the country lagged behind its neighbors in the adoption of technology, automation and skills advancement, which had held back its development.
He added that AG&P’s expertise in capacity building is in sync with the road map’s emphasis on extending the traditional markets of Filipino construction labor abroad and taking advantage of the emerging engineering services outsourcing sector.
In the local scene, AG&P is a major player in energy infrastructure having provided skilled manpower to a range of local projects, including the Masinloc Power Plant in Zambales. The 600- megawatt (MW) Masinloc coal plant will add 300 MW as part of its expansion representing an infrastructure investment of up to $800 million.
AG&P’s skilled laborers, which include welders, painters, cutters, fitters, electrical and instrumentation experts, administrators and project managers—receive world-class training that gave the company outstanding levels of productivity, quality and safety. AG&P holds a best-in-class weld repair rate of under 2 percent, in addition to the leading construction safety record of 55 million continuous man-hours without incident.
The company’s large, world-class manufacturing facilities, located in Batangas, are spread across 150-hectares with two self-sufficient yards each housing fabrication, painting and blasting shops, dedicated heavy assembly areas and deep-sea access. They are among the largest fabrication facilities in the region.