Eagle Cement Corp., a company led by businessman Ramon Ang, is investing $300 million to build a new cement manufacturing plant in Davao City.
Eagle Cement said in a statement the new cement manufacturing facility would have a capacity of two million tons or 50 million bags a year.
The project aims to boost production and meet increasing demand spawned by robust infrastructure activities in the country.
Eagle Cement said it would break ground for the cement project on Oct. 20.
Ang, who is also the president and chief operating officer of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., said the construction of the cement plant would help support the country’s growth while strengthening Eagle Cement’s position as one of the leading cement companies.
Ang identified Davao as a key growth area for the Philippines. San Miguel Global Power Holdings Inc. earlier completed a new power generation facility in Malita, Davao.
The new 300-megawatt power plant, which is part of a 2,000-hectare Peza-accredited industrial estate SMC is building in the province, is now fully online.
Davao is also home to San Miguel Brewery Inc.’s subsidiary Davao Brewery.
Ang said in 2015 that Eagle Cement was building new facilities with a capacity of two million tons each in Davao and Cebu.
Eagle Cement has a plant in San Ildefonso, Bulacan which started commercial operations in 2010.
Meanwhile, San Miguel is also expanding its cement business. Northern Cement Corp., a subsidiary of San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corp., commenced its $200-million plant capacity expansion project.
Once completed, NCC will double its annual capacity to more than two million tons.
The expansion is based on growing demand for cement products. San Miguel has been aggressively bidding for various infrastructure projects in the country.
The conglomerate is currently constructing major infrastructure projects such as the Naia Expressway, Boracay Airport, Skyway Stage 3, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, Slex-TR4, MRT-Line 7 and the Bulacan Bulk Water Project.
Other cement companies such as Holcim Philippines Inc. and Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. are also expanding their current capacities in anticipation of continued increase in demand.
The Duterte administration plans to increase infrastructure spending up to 7 percent of gross domestic product by 2022 that would bring about “golden age of infrastructure” in the next six years.
