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THE
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda)
endorsed to economic policymakers six projects worth
P17.4 billion, including one to replace light bulbs
across the country.
In a
statement released on Thursday, the Neda said its
Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) Technical Board
and the Cabinet Committee had approved the projects.
The most
expensive project is the Philippine Energy Efficiency
Project at about P2.17 billion. The project involves the
distribution of 13 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
to residential and small commercial sectors that cover
about 6.68 million households nationwide.
A
P1.58-billion funding for the project will be sourced
from a loan from the Asian Development Bank, P67.5
million from the bank’s Clean Energy Fund grant, and the
remaining P517.5 million from the Department of Energy’s
counterpart fund.
The Neda
said the project aims to reduce government expenditure
on electricity by 20 percent in pilot government
buildings, as well as average cost of production by
electric cooperatives by 10 percent.
The
country’s socioeconomic planning agency said it expects
the project to “reduce peak demand in cooperatives
through consumer savings for each CFL, reduce energy
consumption in 42 pilot public buildings by 5 percent
from 2007, and recover residual mercury from fluorescent
lights within 24 months to prevent it from entering the
food chain.”
The
other projects endorsed include three transmission
projects intended to ensure continuous power supply—the
P6.13-billion Abaga-Kirahon-Maramag 230kV Power
Transmission Project, the P1.63-billion General Santos-Tacurong
138kV Transmission Line Project, and the P1.27-billion
Wright-Calbayog 138kV Transmission Line Project.
Energy
Secretary Angelo Reyes said on Wednesday his agency’s
goal to “ensure secure, adequate, quality, and reliable
energy supply at reasonable prices requires an
investment of P1.42 trillion.”
Another
of the approved energy project is the Credit Line for
Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection project
proposed by the Land Bank of the Philippines.
“This is
intended to support the initiatives, programs and
projects that promote energy efficiency and climate
protection.”
The Neda
said the credit lines will be available to
private-sector companies and entities which are at least
70-percent Filipino-owned.
The ICC
also approved the P4.52-billion Project on Forestlands
Management of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources, which aims to rehabilitate degraded
forestlands to uplift the socioeconomic conditions of
affected communities in three critical river basins,
i.e., Upper Magat and Cagayan, Upper Pampanga and Jalaur
River basin. |
