The Board of Investments (BOI) has approved P146.18 billion worth of big-ticket power projects in the first eight months of the year, data obtained from the investment-promotion agency showed.
For the period, six of the 10 biggest investment commitments that the BOI approved were in the energy sector, led by the St. Raphael Power Generation Corp.’s coal-fired power plant in Balayab and Calaca, Batangas. The project costs P63.2 billion.
St. Raphael Power Generation Corp. is a unit of the Consunji-owned Semirara Mining Corp. It will generate 410 fresh jobs.
The BOI also approved the grant of incentives to the P50-billion 540-megawatt (MW) coal-fired plant of GNPower Kauswagan Ltd. Co. in Lanao del Norte. It will employ around 304 workers.
The Panay Energy Development Corp.’s 150-MW coal-fired power plant in Iloilo, meanwhile, costs P15.57 billion.
Other power projects in the BOI’s top 10 approved investments from January to August are the Emerging Power Inc.’s 40-MW Montelago Geothermal Project, priced at P8.2 billion.
Prime Meridian Powergen Corp. has registered its 115-MW San Gabriel Avion Natural Gas-fired power plant in Batangas City, which is worth P5.5 billion.
Still on the list is Agusan Power Corp’s 25-MW Lake Mainit Power Plant. The project costs P3.6 billion.
The combined project cost of the six power projects accounts for more than half, or 56.5 percent, of the
P258.7-billion approved investments of the BOI in the first eight months of the year.
According to a BOI statement, the P258.7-billion haul in the first eight months of the year reflects a 26-percent drop from the P350.34 billion worth of approved projects in the same period last year.
The decline, according to Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal, was “due to the absence of big-ticket power projects” in 2014.
Cristobal also said it was due to the higher base last year.