Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Neda to set guidelines on private sector projects By Lydia C. Pendon
THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) regional office in Iloilo City will submit within this week a set of guidelines to the Regional Development Council (RDC) Committee on Infrastructures involving private sector funded projects to be implemented in Western Visayas.
Neda-Western Visayas Director Ro-An Bacal assured this to Mayor Jerry P. Treñas after the latter requested such to guide the RDC committee on projects initiated solely by the private sector, not involving any government sovereign guarantee funding.
Treñas said the guideline would set the presentation and parameters on private investment for information purposes of his committee, especially on the P18 billion investments on coal-fired power plant initiated by Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC).
The issue on guidelines was an offshoot of a recent controversy emanating from five governors of the region who jointly signed a petition to recall the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued to the coal plant project.
The governors headed by Salvacion Perez of Antique said the RDC was not consulted or informed on the coal-fired power plant soon to be constructed in Barangay Ingore, La Paz district, in Iloilo City.
Treñas said the ECC was issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), adding that he was informed the ECC needs no recommendation from the RDC.
The coal plant project of GBPC is purely a private sector project that has no government guarantee to merit an RDC endorsement.
Treñas clarified that the RDC endorsement is needed only on government projects in the region like the flood control project, Molo boulevard project and others that need government funding.
On issue that the RDC membership was not aware of the coal plant project, Treñas said that a multi-sectoral task force he created last year to study and evaluate the coal-fired power plant had conducted a project presentation to the RDC economic development committee headed by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Western Visayas Director Dominic Abad.
The task force, with members from the DENR and Department of Health (DOH), has conducted a thorough study on the possibility of a coal-fired power plant in Iloilo City.
