The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Philippines is poised to become a major global player in engineering expertise and services as industry leaders position Filipino engineers as a “global brand” in the fast-growing, highly competitive and technology-driven construction industry.
Speaking at the ongoing yearly convention of civil engineers in Davao City, Ernesto S. De Castro, president of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE), said that with the projected boom in construction in the Philippines and many parts of the world, engineering services and Filipino engineers will be in great demand worldwide.
Citing a report by McKinsey & Company, De Castro noted that the world needs to invest $3 trillion in infrastructure annually through 2030 or a total of $49 trillion.
The bulk of the investment in infrastructure will be in emerging economies, with Asia accounting for 48 percent or $24 trillion of total investment. Infrastructure investments in the United States and Canada will account for 22 percent or $11 trillion.
“This means massive need for experts, engineers, talents and engineering services,” De Castro said.
The Philippines, he said, will also be in “construction mode” in the next five years, with government infrastructure investment programmed at some P8 trillion.
“We are building a new Philippines,” De Castro said, citing the Duterte administration’s thrust to build a new political order anchored on federalism, economic development through industrialization, social order based on discipline and public order and safety, and a new physical landscape through massive infrastructure.
“The physical building of a new Philippines will be fueled by both public and private sectors. In the public sector, the government is poised to invest not less than eight trillion pesos in infrastructure – the biggest outlay ever,” said De Castro who is the chief executive officer of ESCA Incorporated, a home-grown engineering company that has made its mark in the international arena.
De Castro said such spending will not only drive the construction industry but power the economy, pushed forward even further by private sector investments.
He said that with the world building for the next 14 years, Filipino engineers should be ready and equipped with the expertise required of the changing system of infrastructure.
“We would like the Filipino civil engineer to be recognized and respected anywhere and everywhere known globally for a high level of expertise, professionalism, integrity, excellence and social responsibility,” he said.
De Castro said he sees the Philippines becoming a “Global Center of Excellence for Engineering Services,” to provide expertise and services for infrastructure projects in many parts of the world.
“We are now providing engineering services outsourcing to global infrastructure projects,” he noted adding, the engineering services component of the business process management (BPM) industry now earned $300 million for the country and employs some 13,000 employees.
He said the engineering services outsourcing (ESO) sector can increase the country’s share of the country’s outsourcing revenues from the present one percent to at least three percent by 2022.