Friday, September 12, 2008 Hedcor construction sources P200M from suppliers
HEDCOR Sibulan Inc. (HSI) is making its presence felt in the economy of Davao City and Davao del Sur.
In just over a year since HSI's construction of its 42.5-megawatt Sibulan Hydropower Project (SHP) in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur started, the energy developer has been able to source a significant amount of construction materials and services from local suppliers.
Hedcor civil works project contractor JV Angeles Construction Corp. recently disclosed in a report that from March 2007 to June 2008, the company has so far sourced P200 million of its construction requirements in the Davao region.
This includes P76 million worth of construction materials and more than P47 million in sub-contractor works.
"We are committed to patronize local contractors and suppliers because we believe the Davao Region has a lot to offer. Our existing plants, for example, are already serviced by Deco Machine Shop," said Gregorio Jabonillo, Hedcor vice president for Mindanao operations.
Deco has been Hedcor's local contractor since the company started operating the Talomo mini hydropower plants in 2004.
Another one of Hedcor's sub-contractors, Esbe Industrial Builders--a supplier of steel support ribs for the plant's water tunnels, says they consider the Sibulan project as their priority.
"We allocated about 80 percent of our fabricating assets and equipment and about 15 of our workers for the Sibulan plants," said Esbe sales engineer Erwin Caroz, whose company maintains a steel fabrication shop in Tibungco, Davao City.
Caroz added that the construction of the plants has been good to the business in the area.
Aside from the added economic benefit to local business, Hedcor also lined up projects and programs for the benefit of its host communities in the Municipality of Sta. Cruz. These benefits include a community share from the power plants' revenues, construction of access roads, rural electrification, support for educational projects, and environmental preservation projects worth about P700 million.
The SHP is a pair of cascading run-of-river hydropower plants that will supply Davao with 212 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy starting August 2009.
These plants will help augment the electric requirements in the region and prevent an impending power crisis as projected by the Department of Energy (DOE).
