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Virginia
company receives federal grant to compete in Asian environmental market.
WILLIAMSBURG, VA, April 1, 1999 �
Over the last three years, Rickmond Engineering,
Inc., has worked to develop contacts in the Philippines that have
identified promising opportunities for the engineering environmental
firm. Now, with the assistance of a grant from the United
States-Asia Environmental Partnership
(US-AEP) program in Washington,
DC, the firm will pursue five wastewater
projects in the Philippines.
"The last three years have been hard, rewarding work for us and it
represents a profound investment of money and time.
This grant enables us to capitalize on those
efforts and earn significant returns in the form of improved quality of
life for the people in the Philippines and possible future trade between
our two countries," said Darrell C. Rickmond, Jr.,
President of Rickmond Engineering, Inc.
The $20,000 grant will be utilized to schedule visits beginning in
April. The trips will involve visits to several islands in the
Philippines to meet with decision-makers and make presentations on
potential projects.
Rickmond Engineering, Inc., established in 1984 in Williamsburg,
Virginia, is a private firm with 25 employees. For the past 15 years
Rickmond Engineering has provided this same expertise in states
throughout the southeast United States for both the public and private
sector.
Water and wastewater projects in the Philippines are unique; limited
knowledge of wastewater treatment processes, limited space for treatment
facilities, limited financing options, etc. require innovation and
creativity. With this ability Rickmond Engineering has been able to
identify potential projects in the Philippines that will benefit from
the firm�s expertise and experiences as alternative wastewater treatment
specialists. Its mission is to improve the Philippines environmental
conditions through consulting, designing, and operating wastewater
treatment facilities by bringing to the market the latest technology in
the international wastewater industry.
The firm�s expertise extends to the design of wastewater treatment
facilities for private developers, municipalities, and industrial
clients. Such facilities have included hotels, subdivisions, marinas,
apartment complexes, condominiums, townhouse complexes, towns, a
courthouse complex, golf courses, shopping centers, elderly care
facilities, auto/truck stops, restaurants and numerous other facilities.
"These same types of projects that require the same expertise are what
we are pursuing in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries,"
said Mr. Rickmond.
Launched as a presidential initiative in 1992, US-AEP is a
public-private, interagency program, led by the United States Agency for
International Development, designed to promote environmentally sound
economic growth in Asia, with the assistance of U.S. technology,
services and experience. The program works in 11 priority Asian
economies, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and � starting this
year � Vietnam.
The grant, called the Tech Fund, is administered by the National
Association of State Development Agencies in Washington, DC. It provides
grants to help to help U.S. companies enter the Asian environmental
market and generate business relationships that foster Asian and
American economic development. In five years of program operation, the
grant has provided for more than 275 projects, facilitating over $350
million in export sales.
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