By: Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily InquirerTHE DAVAO City Council has finally endorsed the P25-billion 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant of the Aboitiz-led Therma South Inc., as local officials stressed the need to have a reliable source of electricity in the brownout-stricken province.
In securing the local government’s endorsement, Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) effectively hurdled one of the biggest challenges faced by companies seeking to put up facilities that run on traditional fossil fuels like coal.
In a statement issued Thursday night, APC said 23 of the 24 councilors approved a resolution endorsing the project. One councilor objected to the resolution while another was on leave. Local officials said Davao City needed to tap a new power source to address its increasing demand for power amid a looming power shortage in Mindanao.
Davao City’s approval came more than two months after the neighboring municipality of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur approved the same project. Officials of the host communities—Barangay Binugao in Davao City and Barangay Inawayan in Sta. Cruz—also issued separate resolutions last April.
The proposed coal facility, which will use the so-called clean coal technology, will be put up in area where approximately two thirds (36.7 hectares) of the land would be located in Davao City, while the remaining one third (15.3 hectaree) is located in Davao del Sur.
The APC statement also quoted Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as saying that the vote was for the future of the city.
“We need power for the city. This vote was about control. We want this plant inside Davao so we will have control and jurisdiction over it,” Duterte said.
Citing a report, joint committee chair Pilar Braga said that the “power crisis that the city of Davao and the whole island of Mindanao is facing is real, and the government and the private sector must join hands to cushion the people of Davao from the adverse and debilitating effects of such a crisis.”
“Given the advances of modern technology and with the direct and constant supervision of government, a coal-fired power plant is relatively safe for the environment and human health and shall follow appropriate emission standards,” Braga added.
APC president Erramon I. Aboitiz said that “the positive outcome of the council’s deliberations reconfirms the joint effort of the public and private sectors in solving the power situation in Davao City in particular, and Mindanao in general. We have been in Mindanao since the 1930s and remain committed to provide Mindanao with competitive power to support its development.”
Bobby Orig, APC first vice president for Mindanao, meanwhile underscored the importance of the company’s planned coal facility because Mindanao—which sources over half of its electricity requirements from hydropower sources—needed to get the right mix of power from different sources to shield it from adverse weather developments such as the El Niño.
Orig also pointed out that, based on government estimates, the Mindanao power supply shortage was expected to worsen over the next few years.
By 2014, the shortage will be around 480 MW—enough to cut off the entire power supply in the cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Gen. Santos, Zamboanga and Butuan, Orig said.
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