Techweb to build construction industry portal in Malaysia

BANGALORE: Beam Consulting Sdn Bhd, a Malaysia-based IT and

Telecommunications consulting business group, has entered into a strategic

tie-up with the city-based Techweb Technologies to build malaysiabuilder.com, a

portal for the building and construction industry in Malaysia. The portal,

scheduled to go online by the middle of May 2000, will initially provide

information on the building and construction industry, listings and profiles of

associated professionals and companies, opportunities for B2B and B2C

transactions, financial aspects, education, real estate, and publications

related to the industry.

Said Beam Consulting chairman and managing director Krishna Rao, "The

portal would be able to tap the opportunities provided by the huge amount of

construction resources across the Asia-Pacific. It will also act as the

intermediary for the Asian construction businesses, which are dominantly

fragmented and localised in nature." Of the estimated $400 billion market

value for global construction industry, 30 per cent of it comes from

Asia-Pacific. Said Seshagiri Rao, "This MoU with Beam will act as a gateway

for Techweb’s entry into the Asia-Pacific region."

Techweb Technologies, a systems, software, Internet and Intranet technology

company, has built over six portals for clients in India and abroad. Using

Techweb’s leading edge B2B solutions, the portal will focus on providing B2B

construction and related products, trading exchange solutions for global buyers

and sellers, business consultancy and system implementation services. Beam

Consulting expects to invest a total of US$ 2.5 million and is currently using

internal funds for development work. For further expansion, financial

investments from venture capitalists, strategic investors and banks will be

explored.