Global utility tech company ABB plans to invest in Davao City as it catches up with the nation’s capital city Manila with its “potential in the utility space.”
Oliver Coquerel, ABB country managing director, said the company had added service engineers in Davao City to improve infrastructure and transportation such as trains and electric buses, and to continue its collaboration with Davao Light and Power Co. owned by the Aboitiz Power Corp.
“I feel that Davao will catch up with the big sister Manila. I think there will be a lot of job opportunities for people in Mindanao and I’m quite confident it will be not only a key city but it will be even a bigger destination player in the Philippines,” Coquerel said in a company forum on July 8.
Coquerel said ABB had started discussions with officials and architects in designing “smart cities” in the Calabarzon region.
A smart city has a sustainable, secure, and comfortable environment using information and communications technologies, he said.
“Of course, the ‘Build Build Build’ program from the administration is helping a lot from my view in strengthening the Philippine’s position in South East Asia and also globally. The future is bright, smart, and electric,” Coquerel said.
ABB is a leading global technology company that caters to industries and utilities such as food and beverage, oil and gas, and transportation.
In June, ABB announced that it had secured a multi-million dollar contract to install 20-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities in some of the project sites of San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) energy investment arm, SMC Global Power Holding Corp., supporting the government’s goal to increase the share of renewable energy to more than 50 percent in 2040. Jelo Ritzhie Mantaring