In December 2024, a subscription contract for the SOCOCA geospatial service was concluded at Nadzab Tomodachi International Airport (hereinafter referred to as “Nadzab Airport”) in Papua New Guinea, where a joint venture led by Oriental Consultants Global Co., Ltd. carried out consultancy services, including detailed design, bid support, and construction supervision.

SOCOCA is a tool used for infrastructure maintenance, disaster information collection, and other applications, and is being deployed primarily in the Philippines by Oriental Consultants Philippines Inc. (OC Philippines), our local subsidiary in the country. In Japan, it is utilized for airport maintenance, including at Nanki-Shirahama Airport and Tottori Airport.

Nadzab Airport opened in October 2023, and its maintenance and inspection have been carried out by the local national airport corporation. OC Global remains engaged in supporting the airport through SOCOCA.

[Related Links] SOCOCA Introduction Website: https://www.rands-co.com/lp/sococa.html
SOCOCA Animation Video]　 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdHcZVD65i4

Nadzab Tomodachi International Airport

SOCOCA

SOCOCA in Use at Nadzab Airport

Nadzab Airport is located in Lae, the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea, and serves as a key infrastructure facility, handling significant transportation of people and goods from various parts of the country. Through Official Development Assistance (ODA), upgrades were carried out on aging runway pavement, airport security facilities, and aviation lighting. The project included the expansion of the existing runway, the enhancement of the taxiway network, the enlargement of the apron, improvements to aviation lighting functions, and the development of a new terminal featuring a two-story steel-framed passenger terminal building (with a total floor area of approximately 10,740 square meters) and a new parking lot. As a result of these developments, existing maintenance and inspection procedures are also being reviewed.

Due to the limited number of technical staff at the national airport corporation, engineers had to be dispatched from the capital, Port Moresby, each time equipment malfunctioned. Furthermore, because inspections were conducted on paper, past records were not preserved, making it difficult to identify the causes of equipment failures or implement preventive measures. In order to ensure the continued safe operation of the newly developed airport facilities and runway, the airport corporation had called for the introduction and streamlining of inspection operations using digital transformation (DX) technologies. By utilizing SOCOCA, inspections can now be carried out using smartphones, allowing inspection data to be stored in a database and enabling the real-time sharing of detailed conditions—such as photographs and location information—with relevant parties. Support for infrastructure maintenance at Nadzab Airport will thus continue beyond the framework of ODA.

OC Global is supporting the long-term safe use of infrastructure in emerging economies, by not only transferring infrastructure repair technologies but also assisting with maintenance through the use of DX technologies.