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AFTER inking a long-term deal with lenders for a
hydroelectric power plant project, Aboitiz Power’s (AP) hydro unit
expects to close the project financing for another proposed facility
in Mindanao in the coming weeks.
Erramon Aboitiz, Hedcor Sibulan
Inc. chairman and chief executive officer, said the company expects
to complete the financing requirements of its 30.5-megawatt Tamugan
plant in the short term.
The executive disclosed this
Wednesday on the sidelines of Hedcor’s signing of a P3.57-billion
syndicated loan facility with Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co.,
Philippine National Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. The
proceeds would be used to construct the 42.5-megawatt Sibulan plant.
Aboitiz said the same commercial
banks that Hedcor tapped for its P5.1-billion Sibulan plant have
expressed interest in financing the Tamugan project.
“We are still finalizing the
contracts and hopefully we can finalize that in the next few
weeks,” he said.
Hedcor plans to borrow 70 percent
of the facility’s project cost, which is expected to fetch about
P6 billion. The balance will be financed by equity.
The proposed plant will employ
run-of-river technology similar to the Sibulan facility allowing it
to produce power without having to construct a dam.
Aboitiz said the company expects
to complete the Tamugan plant by August 2012 and the Sibulan plant
by August 2009.
Once completed, the facilities
are projected to bring in a combined P1.7 billion to P1.8 billion in
additional revenues a year to the Aboitiz group.
The facilities are expected to
help avert a looming power crisis in Mindanao by next year. This
early, the southern Philippine island is suffering from supply
shortages.
“One thing important about
these projects is that they are located in the southern Mindanao,
which at present has transmission line constraint. This will help
the south in both improving local supply and voltage,” Rene
Ronquillo, Hedcor president and chief operating officer, said.
AP’s shares closed flat
Wednesday at the Philippine Stock Exchange at P5.1.
 --Euan
Paulo C. Ańonuevo
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