ENVIRONMENTAL advocate Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (Ceed) urged the national government to immediately start the overdue rehabilitation of the State-run National Power Corporation’s Agus-Pulangi Hydropower Plant Complex (APHPC) in Mindanao.
The hydropower complex is owned by the government through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) and operated by National Power Corporation (NPC).
“The rehabilitation of Agus Pulangui hydropower complex should start immediately,” said Ceed executive director Gerry Arances, adding that the effort will help Mindanao reap the benefits of a clean energy facility that was under-utilized for decades.
The proposed APHCP restoration, according to Arances even aimed to ensure the reliability of the power supply in Mindanao.
“Skyrocketing prices demonstrate to us the urgency of moving away from fossil fuels and Mindanao now has the opportunity to do that,” Arances said.
During the Mindanao Power Forum 2021 held virtually on May 25, 2021, the proposed rehabilitation was included in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022.
As reported by National Power Corporation (Napocor) Vice President, Mindanao Generation Edmundo A. Veloso, Jr., said the long-planned rehabilitation of the decades-old Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric power plants in Mindanao has an estimated cost of P20 billion pesos.
The World Bank (WB) even approved $700,000 in financing to jumpstart project preparation.
On April 27, The WB approved the financing for Napocor to start preparing the project’s feasibility study and tender documents, according to the WB.
Upon completion of preparations for the rehabilitation work, WB would lend the Philippines an initial $100 million to cover part of the $150-million cost of project one of the series of Agus-Pulangi hydropower rehab projects.
Arances said that the Agus-Pulangui should be the starting point for a rapid and massive transition from coal and fossil fuel-based energy in Mindanao.
Earlier, Power for People Coalition (P4P), a network of civil society organizations, cooperatives, and consumers even raised concern over the decision to pursue the rehabilitation project through a P16.71 billion loan, set to be managed by the Department of Finance, led by Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.
Arances, who is also the P4P convenor, said the rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi Hydropower Plant is among the major projects of the previous administration that will be turned over to the next administration.
“The government should take this opportunity to make the project sustainable not just environmentally, but fiscally as well by not funding it through loans,” said Arances.
We should not undermine Mindanao and the Philippines’ massive potential and right to access climate and clean energy finance, according to Arances.
He also said that the effort should not also become a precedent for potential privatization of the facilities, which will only bring suffering to consumers.
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