ACCIONA expands investments in the Philippines

ACCIONA, a global leader in sustainable infrastructure, reinforces its commitment to the Philippines as it declares plans to expand its investments in the country and continue collaboration with government and local partners on transformative projects.

ACCIONA Infrastructure ceo Jose Diaz-Caneja said the Spain-based company plans to “keep growing” in the Philippines, noting the attractiveness of the public-private partnership (PPP) model in the country. 

Diaz-Caneja made the statement early this month during the Pilipinas Conference 2024, a gathering of key government officials and top business leaders organized by the Stratbase Group.

ACCIONA currently has eight infrastructure projects in the Philippines including railways, bridges, expressways, and water treatment facilities.

Its Southeast Asia headquarters is also located in Manila.

“We saw a pipeline of opportunities in different sectors of infrastructure… relocating the headquarters to Manila has been one of the best business decisions we’ve made in the region. We’re now executing our eighth project here. All of them havebeen successful,” Diaz-Caneja said.

“And we hope to be able to keep on growing in the in the country and in the region, leveraging our presence in the country... I think that, nowadays, no one has any doubt about the visibility and the attractiveness of the of the PPPs model that has been developed in the Philippines,” he explained.

ACCIONA managing director for infrastructure in Southeast Asia Ruben Camba recognized the efforts of the Philippine government to ensure the success of its infrastructure programs.

“[I commend] the way that the government is expanding the number of projects through multilateral banks, working with Asian development, the Japanese funds. This administration has also done a little bit more [in legislation] putting together the[revised IRR of the] BOT law, launching the PPP code,” Camba said.

“We see a great future in the Philippines and this is why we are here. This is one of the markets for us. We really believe in the Philippines. Of course, we will have challenges and we need to work on that too,” he said.

Both Diaz-Caneja and Camba emphasized the importance of strategic collaboration with the government and local partners in the Philippines.

“All these would mean nothing if we would not have been able to have the straightforward friendship and collaborative relationship that we have had with our partners. We cannot deliver projects here without local partners. So, we need to build relationship and trust and just getting together and getting aligned with them in order to be able to perform,” Diaz-Caneja said.

“We [also] need to work along with the government and local companies to try to resolve the problems together… if I may ask [the government] for long term planning. And, after that planning, let's try to streamline the implementation,” Camba also said.

Ayala Corp. chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala emphasized the importance of having international companies like ACCIONA invest in the Philippines.

“International companies like ACCIONA can give us a feel for, you know, what are the elements in other countries that are working and that have made life easy for them and make them want to allocate more capital,” Zobel de Ayala said. 

“Capital can move to many countries. There are many opportunities globally. And so, the more international companies we bring in, the more multinationals we bring in, the more we will learn about what makes them tick. And we should, of course, be encouraging capital to enter the country,” he said.

With eight success projects and a solid presence in the Philippines, ACCIONA reiterated its commitment to driving sustainable infrastructure development in the country.

The company is looking forward to further collaborations with the government and private sector to address the country’s evolving infrastructure needs and help improve the lives of the Filipino people.