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Monday, October 20, 2008
$450 million coal plant in Sarangani pushed
GENERAL SANTOS CITY –- Conal Holdings Corporation is pursuing the $450 million, 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani despite the area’s hostile security situation, a senior company official said.
Government troops in Sarangani continue pursuit operations against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels who attacked neighboring Maasim and Kiamba towns in separate occasions previously.
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Joseph C. Nocos, Conal vice president, said the security situation in the province is making it difficult for the company to attract foreign investors.
"It [the security condition] makes our work a little bit challenging [in getting foreign partners]. We need to explain the situation more thoroughly," Nocos said in a telephone interview, noting the Alcantara group's more than 50 years of doing business in Mindanao.
Nocos declined to name the foreign investors who are willing to be their partner.
Conal is a partnership between the Alcantara group and the Electricity Generating Public Company, a unit of Thailand's biggest power producer, with 60-40 shareholdings, respectively.
The coal-fueled power plant is seen to fill the supply gap of the anticipated electricity shortage in Mindanao by 2012.
Nocos said the partners, including the Aboitiz Power Corp., have already agreed in principle to push the project to completion. The construction of the project has been scheduled to begin by middle of next year.
He added that the project is right on schedule, with the technical and engineering activities going on despite the attack by the Moro rebels at the poblacion of Maasim in August.
He urged the government and the MILF to sort out their differences and return to the negotiating table for the forging of a lasting peace in Mindanao.
Last week, the disgruntled MILF rebels swooped down on a coconut plantation in neighboring Kiamba town and burned five buildings in another village of the locality.
The coal-fired plant project has gained the support of the Maasim local government, with its officials saying it will "trigger" the entry of other industries in the area, thus employment opportunities for the locals.
But environmental groups, such as the Greenpeace and the local Catholic
Church, have expressed opposition to the venture dubbed as Kamanga power plant project, on concerns of biodiversity and human health.
Maasim is a coastal town that faces Sarangani Bay and Celebes Sea, where a world-class diving spot is located.
Nocos gave assurances the company would employ the latest in technology that would contain pollutants. It will also be planting trees in 10,000 hectares to serve as a carbon sink.
Gregorio S. Gonzales, Kamanga power plant manager, said the company has acquired the services of Finland's Enprima Limited for the technical and engineering design of the project.
It also engaged the services of Berkman Systems Inc., which is said to be a leading environmental management and monitoring service provider in the Philippines.
Conal targets to increase to 900 MW the plant’s capacity in two 350 MW increments, company officials announced in last year's Mindanao Business Conference in this city. (Sun.Star General Santos/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (October 20, 2008 issue)
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