WB to fund rehab study for Agus-Pulangi hydro

State-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) will receive funding from the World Bank for a study on the rehabilitation of the 982-megawatt (MW) Agus-Pulangi Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEPP), its top official said.

Napocor president Pio Benavidez said the multilateral lender would provide a grant to get the feasibility study for the Agus-Pulangi rehabilitation rolling.

“The World Bank will finance through grant the feasibility study,” he said.

Benavidez said the feasibility study, which would take a year to finish, would explore options on how the rehabilitation of the plants would be conducted.

Among the options include raising the rated capacity plus safety of the plant, and security as well as improving water efficiency.

Apart from World Bank, Napocor will also be shelling out funding for the feasibility study.

Once the study is completed, the government will bid out the rehabilitation contract worth between P37 billion to P50 billion.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government is seeking other sources of funding to bankroll the rehabilitation project of the Agus-Pulangi power plants.

“Funding might come from multilaterals. ADB, World Bank, JICA and probably China,” Benavidez said.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the government is planning to ask China for funding assistance for the rehabilitation of the AgusPulangi HEPP.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi also said his agency is working closely with the Department of Finance (DOF) to close the funding from China.

State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), which owns the Agus-Pulangi facility, said it is keen on the plant rehabilitation aimed at extending the facilities’ service life by 30 more years and to increase the plants’ reliability and availability.

With an installed capacity of 982 MW, the AgusPulangi hydro power plants can only supply up to only 40 percent of their total capacity to the Mindanao grid.