business Mirror
TUESDAY, 12 JULY 2011 18:09 LIZA T. AGOOT / CORRESPONDENT
BONTOC, Mt. Province—Sabangan, a fifth-class municipality in Mountain Province, will host a billion-peso investment after Hedcor Inc. Benguet, a subsidiary of AboitizPower, signed the final memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the operation of a mini-hydro run-off river power plant.
Hedcor Inc. Benguet senior vice president Chris Faelnar said the company will be investing a minimum of P1 billion for the construction of a 12.3-megawatt river run-off mini- hydro power plant to be located in barangays Namatec and Napuac. This, he said after they were given the consent and the approval by the community, barangay, municipal and the provincial governments, giving the go signal for the start of the project.
The amount of investment, he said, will include the construction of a road leading to the plant and the electro mechanical works needed in the operation.
The roads, he said, will be the first to be done, which the community can also utilize as part of their access to their homes.
The P1-billion investment does not include funding for the corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects it will undertake for the community, which represents one percent of its income. Aboitiz Foundation, its CSR arm, will manage the fund for community projects in the form of education and scholarships, health programs and other projects.
Environmental protection projects which includes reforestation activities will also be undertaken.
Faelnar added that in the coming days, Hedcor will start the detailed engineering and hydrology tests which will determine the volume of water needed to operate the plant and guide them on the equipment to be installed. Simultaneous to this is the construction of the roads needed to bring equipment to the plant.
This will take a maximum of eight months followed by 18 months when the power plant will be construced.
Hedcor Sabangan, created for the purpose of the Mt. Province operation, will operate the plant.
The company will be registered as a local firm with principal office in the municipality, mandating them to pay the real property, business, income and other related taxes, benefitting the community more.
With the plant in Sabangan, the municipality is expected to receive a minimum of P7 million annually, while barangays Namatec and Napuac will get a minimum of P4 million annually.
The indigenous people of Sabangan will also get a minimum of P266,000 annually, with the provincial government receiving a minimum of P2.7 million annually as share from the national wealth tax coming from the operation of the mini-hydro plant.
Mayor Donato Danglose said the amount will help the municipality which at present is 96-percent dependent on the internal revenue allotment (IRA).
For 2011 Sabangan, which has a population of 9,998 has an annual budget of P30 million with P28 million coming from the IRA.
Under his administration, he said, their priority is to construct a farm-to-market road to allow the people to bring their agricultural produce to the market and increase their income.
Gov. Leonard Mayaen during the signing said they were able to convince Hedcor to pay their taxes locally, the reason the company created Hedcor Sabangan.
The MOA also contained provisions that the company will cause the improvement of roads, as well as to utilize and pay the people who will work for its construction.
The MOA also assured that the Hedcor satisfies and pays the residents whose lands will be utilized for the road right of way.
The entry of Hedcor to develop river run-off mini-hydro power plant in Sabangan, he said, will be of great financial gain to the locality.
Faelan also said the company is completing the feasibility studies in the different municipalities of the province including those of Talubin and Bayyo in the municipality of Bontoc, barangay Lias in Barlig, at the Chico River along the municipalities of Sadanga and Besao.
When completed, the Sabangan plant will be the first Hedcor-owned river run-off mini-hydro power plant outside Benguet and the 11th in the Cordillera.
From 25 years ago with a minimal 20,000 kilowatt hours, Hedcor, which is now the leading producer of renewable energy in the country under the brand Cleanergy, is producing 600 million kilowatt hours a year of clean energy.
With the new plants coming in, Hedcor Inc.’s targets of 2 billion kilowatt hours a year production by 2018 is expected to be realized.
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