Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. (AIC), the infrastructure arm of the Aboitiz group, has earmarked around P6 billion for capital expenditure (capex) to finance the construction of over 1,000 common towers by 2022.
AIC through its common tower business unit Unity Digital Infrastructure aims to roll out bulk of the towers in Visayas and Mindanao at a cost of between $100,000 and $120,000 per site, with the investment amounting to about P5 billion to P6 billion, Robin Sarmiento, Unity chief executive officer, said during a virtual briefing last Friday.
“We’re rolling out in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, but for 2022, we see much of our sites will be focused in VisMin areas. We have few sites operating in Cebu,” Sarmiento said.
AIC’s capex for its common tower business for 2022 is 140 percent higher than this year’s P2.5 billion capital spending. This supports the government’s target of 50,000-strong common tower network rollout by 2030.
The company said it is engaging at least 150 vendors and contractors for the tower construction, which can help generate jobs and spur economic activities locally. It is looking at having more than 350 small cells by yearend with a new market in Subic.
AIC’s P6-billion capex for its common tower business is part of its P20-billion capital outlay next year, which is 54 percent higher than this year’s capex of P13 billion.
Last week, AIC and its business units unveiled a new brand identity that reflects the group’s forward ambition to be the country’s top of mind in infrastructure solutions.
AIC and its business units are optimistic the economy will sustain its recovery from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as demand for more infrastructure solutions emerges.
Its integrated economic Centers are rebranding to economic estates and will individually be known as LIMA Estate, Mactan Economic Zone 2 Estate and West Cebu Estate.
The change comes as expansion plans for LIMA and West Cebu Estate are underway which are expected to yield up to 89,000 jobs combined. The business unit estimates that LIMA’s industrial expansion alone will bring in P10.3 billion worth of inventory.
AIC said Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc. is on track to begin operations in 2022, in spite of COVID-19’s impact on its construction activities.
Through close collaboration with the Davao City Water District (DCWD) and its engineering, procurement and construction contractor J.V. Angeles Construction Corp., Apo Agua has achieved significant milestones in relation to the raw water facility’s intake weir, treated water pipeline and water treatment plant.
Once operational, the project will deliver at least 300 million liters of treated water per day to DCWD for the benefit of more than one million Davaoeños, AIC said.
