DM Consunji Inc. (DMCI) is spending
P7.2 billion for the energy projects of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC)
and DMCI Power Corp.
SMPC is setting aside P5 billion for
to buy equipment and improve its facilities, the company told the Philippine
Stock Exchange on Monday.
Off-grid power supplier MMCI Power
is spending over P2.2 billion to build power plants and buy additional
equipment.
Also, DMCI Mining Inc. is setting
aside P700 million to acquire additional equipment and machineries. DMCI Mining
plans to increase its nickel output to help weather the slump in commodity
prices.
DMCI is investing in a cutting-edge
steel plant and has completed building a P900-million state-of-the-art steel
plant in Calaca, Batangas.
As newest high capacity steel
fabrication plant in the country, the DMCI facility
uses machine tool technology from Peddinghaus Corp. and Voortman Steel
Machinery. Both are globally acknowledged suppliers of innovative machine tool
technology for structural steel and plate fabrication.
The last known high capacity steel
fabrication plant in the Philippines was established in the 1980s.
The steel plant has the capacity to
fabricate heavy steel sections for power plants, infrastructure and steel
vertical structures. It currently supplies the requirements of the DMCI group,
but plans are afoot to secure contracts with other industrial and construction
companies.
The facility has generated jobs for
over 240 people, mostly from Batangas province.
“The idea to set up a steel
fabrication facility came about in April 2013. We did market and business case
studies for a couple of months before breaking ground in November 2014,” said
DMCI President Jorge Consunji.
“Right now, we are completing the
ancillary building structures while our fabrication operations are on-going,”
he added.