Tuesday, September 1, 2009

DMCI nears completion of Calaca rehabilitation plan

By Donnabelle L. Gatdula (The Philippine Star) Updated September 01, 2009 12:00 AM Comments (0)View comments


MANILA, Philippines - DMCI Holdings Inc., the investment arm of the Consunji group, is nearing the completion of a rehabilitation plan for its newly-acquired 600-megawatt (MW) Calaca coal-fired power plant.
DMCI Power Corp. president Nestor Dadivas said they are now in the final stages of coming up with a rehab program.
The group is awaiting the-turn over of the power plant from the government before they could proceed with the rehabilitation of the facility.
Discussions with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), a government entity created to handle the sale of National Power Corp.’s assets, are ongoing, he said.
Dadivas said the rehabilitation of Calaca is necessary to maximize the capacity of the plant. Calaca has two units and are currently running at combined capacity of 350 MW.
The Calaca power plant consists of two 300-MW generating units and is primarily designed to run as a base-load plant. It is also designed to utilize local coal from Semirara Mining Corp., a subsidiary of DMCI Holdings.
“We’re studying the plant and we’re finalizing the rehabilitation program because now the plant is running at only around 350 MW,” Dadivas said.
The DMCI official said the group is currently raising the downpayment for the power facility. “We plan to finance it (down–payment) from internally-generated funds,” he said.


DMCI Holdings should be able to pay 40 percent of its bid price of $361.7 million to pave the way for the plant’s turnover.
“We have 270 days to pay the downpayment but PSALM has indicated that we do it sooner so we’re negotiating. Our target is March or April 2010 for the turnover,” Dadivas said.
Earlier, DMCI Holdings president Isidro Consunji said the company is likely to borrow from Banco de Oro to finance a portion of the acquisition price.
DMCI Holdings consolidates all construction business, construction component companies, and related interests of the Consunji family. Its core businesses include construction, real estate and coal mining.
It owns 56 percent of Semirara Mining Corp., which has exclusive rights to explore, mine and develop the coal resources on Semirara Island in Caluya, Antique.
The Calaca facility has been allocated a substantial 287-MW power supply contract, or about 48 percent of the plant’s rated capacity. This will provide DMCI a ready market for the electricity that the power plant will generate.
The Manila Electric Co. will assume the biggest portion of the contracted energy, which is equivalent to 169 MW.