AS THE country’s Build, Build, Build program sets the infrastructure development in full swing, a construction equipment firm sees bright prospects in its business.

Seth Oliver Tio, president and chief executive officer of Conequip Philippines Inc., said they will continue to expand their operation throughout the country because of the growing market for equipment that are used to build bridges and roads.

“The construction industry is going up. President Rodrigo Duterte’s infrastructure program is massive, and there’s a lot of investments coming in,” he said.

Tio said they saw a 40 percent increase in their sales as distributor of heavy equipment in the last three years.

“Hot-selling equipment are earth-moving ones; for transport are heavy trucks and special equipment like dredgers, landfill compactors and so on,” he said.

Tio said the bulk of their projects or 70 percent are government infrastructure projects.

Alexey Punko, export director of RM-Terex, a Russian firm that specializes in road construction equipment, said the Philippine market shows a steady upward growth.

“The market for us is really good because the results double each year. We expect the results to double this year with the help of our partner, and I think it should be tripled because the market is really big. The population is two times more than Russia, so construction is everywhere,” he said.

Comparing the Philippines to other countries, Punko said the country’s market is flourishing and their company is expecting to grow together with it.

“I think we should grow steadily by at least 100 percent each year. We need to go forward with more ideas of localization of products here in the Philippines. Maybe, that will boost the market,” he said.

On its 10th anniversary celebrated on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019, Conequip senior vice president for finance May Tio said they remain bullish in their operations despite the competition.

“The competition is very stiff but the company always manages to look for ways to have a better edge compared to others,” she said.

The company will soon establish a more integrated showroom in Cebu and will continue to expand in Manila and Davao.