Sarangani coal plant eyes operation in 2015

The Alcantara-led coal-fired power project in nearby Maasim, Sarangani is targeted to go
on commercial stream by September 2015, a company executive said.
Oscar Benedict Contreras III, Alsons Power Business Unit manager for
communications and stakeholder relations, said that construction works
for the first phase of the project involving 105 megawatts are now in
full gear.
Last week, Sarangani Energy Corp., developer of the 210 MW coal power
plant, officially turned over the construction site to the contractor,
Korean firm Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd.
The project is expected to generate at least 1,000 jobs during the
construction phase with priority given to local residents, Contreras
said.
Located near a world-class scuba diving spot, the coal plant project
is strongly opposed by environmental groups like Greenpeace, including
the local Catholic Church, on concerns over human health and the
environment.
The coal plant project is intended to be part of a long-term solution
to the current power shortage in Mindanao, a company statement said.
In the last few years, parts of Mindanao suffered power interruptions
due to lack of supply blamed on the dwindling generation capacities of
some power plants in the island and the growing demand.
The first phase is intended to supply the power requirements of this
city, Sarangani province and other areas in Southern and Southwestern
Mindanao, it added. (Bong S. Sarmiento/MindaNews)
Sarangani Energy earlier forged a deal to supply the South Cotabato II
Electric Cooperative with 70 MW of power. Socoteco-2 serves this city,
the entire Sarangani and parts of South Cotabato.
Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. (ACR), the publicly-listed company
of the Alcantara Group, holds 75 percent equity at Sarangani Energy
with Toyota Tsusho Corporation, the trading company of the Toyota
Group, owning the remaining 25 percent.
Daelim is one of the biggest construction and engineering firms in
South Korea with projects in over 24 countries. It is the flagship of
the Daelim Group, one of the leading Korean business conglomerates.
With the turnover, Daelim has assumed full responsibility in ensuring
that the project is completed on time, Contreras said.
Present during the turnover were ACR and Sarangani Energy chairman and
president Tomas Alcantara, Daelim Industrial president Chul Kyoon, and
Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez, an Alcantara scion.
The project cost for the first phase was pegged at $310 million (P9.3 billion).
Thirty percent of the project cost, which will be spent over the next
three years of construction, will come from equity to be infused by
ACR and Toyota Tsusho on a 75:25 basis, Luis Ymson Jr., ACR chief
financial officer, said earlier.
The rest would be through bank financing.
In December, Sarangani Energy announced that they have obtained a P9.3
billion syndicated loan to finance the first phase of the project.
It sealed the loan agreement with a consortium of local banks
comprised of BDO Universal Bank (BDO), Asia United Bank (AUB), Rizal
Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), United Coconut Planters Bank,
Philippine Business Bank, Planters Development Bank, and Robinsons
Bank. (Bong S. Sarmiento/MindaNews)