IcFox gives RP access to $3.6-T global construction market

Despite the ongoing economic slowdown, five of the world’s biggest players in the construction and IT industries will be doing business in the Philippines to introduce a new Internet venture which will link the country to the $3.6-trillion global construction market.

The venture, called "icFox Philippines," will also give the country access to the $1.1-trillion-a-year construction market in the Asia-Pacific.

IcFox operates as a business-to-business (B2B) Internet exchange that offers business-enabling platforms designed to provide industry-related information, practical project management collaborative tools, a tendering platform and market access to the global construction industry.

As an Internet exchange specifically designed for the global construction industry, icFox provides comprehensive information and useful tools for its users worldwide.

It has the world’s first multilingual catalogue system, and an online tendering platform that allows developers and owners to post tenders, and for contractors and suppliers to view and respond to tender notices.

It also has an online project management and collaboration tool, the "ProjectNet," that allows users to view project documents and manage projects over the Internet anytime, anywhere.

The new business derives its revenues from a combination of membership and usage fees from its catalogue hosting, online tendering platform to project management tools.

Comprising the new company are:

• Davis Langdon & Seah International network, the world’s leading quantity surveying, cost engineering and construction cost consultancy practice and which has been operating in the Philippines since 1982;

• Cheung Kong, a major conglomerate in Asia based in Hong Kong;

• CapitaLand, a merger of DBS Land and Pidemco Land in Singapore;

• Paul Y.-ITC Group, a multinational and multi-discipline provider of construction, mining, telecom and infrastructure services; and

• Hanny Group, an international manufacturing, sales and marketing group for magnetic and optical data storage media.

The launch of icFox Philippines follows the recent launch in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. It will soon be rolling out in other parts of Asia.

"Combine this international network with the immense strength of its founding members – all big players in the construction and property business – and you’ve got a business development team that is unrivaled in the world. That’s what we are offering this country," Malcolm Anderson, icFox Philippines chairman and concurrent president of Davis Langdon and Seah (Phils), said.

Anderson believes the Philippines will weather its current political and economic turmoil in due time. He said the country’s English-speaking and IT-savvy workforce, the world’s third biggest, is a force to reckon with.

"We want to make our presence in the (Asia-Pacific) region, and the Philippines is a strategic part of that region," he said.

Industry analysts say the fragmented local construction industry can be made more competitive by linking it to the best in construction expertise and technology.

Anderson hopes to overcome the industry’s weaknesses: "icFox will be here to help the industry embrace a new technology that will make its operations more efficient and competitive," he said.