Published
By Chino S. Leyco
The proposed
rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric power plants in Mindanao will
be included in the second basket of projects the Duterte administration would
submit to China for possible financing.
Finance Secretary
Carlos G. Dominguez III said the Philippines and the Chinese governments are
currently discussing additional six to eight infrastructure projects for
possible financing, which included Mindanao’s hydroelectric power plants.
Dominguez said the new
set will be the second basket of infrastructure projects they plan to propose
for official development assistance (ODA) from China.
“We discussed also the
basket of the next projects which is a basket of about six or eight projects,”
Dominguez told reporters in an interview at the DOF headquarters. “Among them
which is quite important to us is the rehabilitation of the Agus river
hydroelectric system.”
The finance chief noted
“we have excess capacity in Mindanao, now is the time to fix that up so that
you know at the time when they have to shut the plugs down for maintenance, we
will have the extra capacity there.”
Dominguez, however,
clarified that second basket of projects is not yet definite, adding “it’s
still in the discussion stage” and “probably” will be finalized during the
final three-months of the year.
Asked about the amount
of financing needed for Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric power plants, Dominguez said
the government has yet to conclude the project’s feasibility study. “It’s quite
a complex project because Agus has one, two, three, four, five plants. We have
to prioritize that area… I am not even sure which one of which has the lowest
performance. But those are the items among the proposal,” the DOF chief said.
In June, Dominguez initially
said the government may need to borrow R34 billion, or around $686 million, in
ODA from China for the rehabilitation of the Mindanao’s major power source.
The Agus complex has
728-megawatt installed capacity, consisting of six cascading-power plants
strategically located along the Agus River.
The Pulangi complex, on
the other hand, is a 255-megawatt hydropower facility with three generating
units. Both facilities, however, already have derated generation.
Both supply Mindanao
electric-power consumers more than 50 percent of its total electricity
requirements.
The power facility is
owned by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the
agency tasked to manage state-owned power assets, and is operated by state-run
National Power Corp. (Napocor).
Dominguez said the Agus
and Pulangi power plant complexes need urgent repair, noting they are “only
operating for about 40 percent capacity. So, you better repair while you have
enough capacity, before it catches up to you.”
The target is to have
them operational close to 100 percent, Dominguez said.
“We submitted that for
Chinese funding. Once you have that, [maybe we] can implement the
interconnection… to be able to bring the power to Visayas, to be able to
complete the grid,” the finance chief said.
“If you can fix the
Agus, then it will be a good power base for interconnecting the whole
Philippine grid,” he added.
Earlier, Dominguez said
the government wanted the rehabilitation of Agus hydropower complex before they
put they on the auction block.
“I am telling Secretary
(Alfonso) Cusi, we have to rehabilitate it because that’s only operating at 40
to 50 percent capacity… we have to rehabilitate it first then maybe privatize
the operations later,” the finance chief said.
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