EEI primes logistics, RE investments
EEI considers buildings and towers as its core construction projects, aside from infrastructure and heavy and light industries
Known for its infrastructure business, EEI Corporation is diversifying into renewable energy which is considered as the next bright spot for the economy, the company’s top executive said.
“Before the change in the diversification of our ownership, EEI owned a portion of PWEI which is a local wind company. We had to sell our stake back to our parent company which is House of Investments,” said Henry Antonio, president and CEO of EEI Corporation during his interview with the
DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show Straight Talk.
Antonio said the company is right now keen on looking at various public-private partnerships or PPP projects in renewable energy and logistics.
“Why do we want to look at these investments in the future, its because the construction business is a very cyclical business that depends on the country’s economy. We need to be able to hedge our investments to make sure that we will have predictability and sustainability of our revenue,” Antonio said.
Based on the report of BloombergNEF Climatescope 2023, the Philippines is the fourth most attractive developing economy for renewable energy investment among 110 emerging
economies.
Also, the Philippines is the only economy to have newly entered the top four in the list, ranking six notches higher from last year’s 10th spot, the report, published in December 2023, said.
Big-ticket projects
EEI considers buildings and towers as its core construction projects, aside from infrastructure and heavy and light industries across Metro Manila and beyond.
Antonio said his company has a tie-up with various conglomerates in the country.
“We built the Grand Hyatt Hotel, other buildings in BGC, and the Pacific Place Building. We built that. Of course, we worked with SM, Megaworld, Federal Land and Torre Lorenzo, across Metro Manila and even outside Metro Manila, including Davao. That’s our building business. Our other segment is infrastructure, encompassing rail, subway, roads and bridges,” he said.
He added that EEI is the builder of Guadalupe Bridge in Makati. “And we hope to be shortlisted for the renovation and expansion of the said bridge,” he said.
The rehab of the Guadalupe Bridge is part of the P525.78-billion big-ticket bridges project of the Marcos administration through the Department of Public Works and Highways, set to link cities, municipalities, and islands of the country.
“This is a JICA, or Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded ODA project so it depends on the process of when this project will commence. It’s still up for bidding,” according to Antonio.
Aside from this, he said his company is currently in the works for the first package of the Metro Manila Subway Project.
“Right now, we are already tunneling,” Antonio said.
In February 2021, EEI Corporation participated in the unveiling of the Cutter Head of “Kaunlaran,” the first among the six Tunnel Boring Machines used for the partial operability section of the Philippines’ firstever Metro Manila Subway.
The Cutter Head is the most substantial part of the TBM, weighing 74 tons, with the main purpose of breaking, cutting, and grinding rocks and soil by rotating its 36-piece disc cutter.