ADB nixes RP request for funding Clean Air Act study

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has turned down the Philippine government’s request for technical assistance to fund a study on the country’s capability to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA), a ranking Department of Energy (DOE) official said yesterday.

"The ADB said it has no fund available for this project study for the year 2000. So our request was turned down," the DOE official, who requested anonymity, said.

The study was to have been aimed at comparing the ability of the Philippines to comply with the requirements specified under the CAA with those of other countries in the region.

The energy official said the ADB, however, is trying to put the government’s request in the list of the bank’s technical assistance lined up for this year. "We wrote a letter again requesting for them (ADB) to include the study in their 2001 budget," he said.

Meanwhile, the official said the DOE is conducting its own study on the CAA impact.

"We are still in the process of gathering data. But, we will try to come up with our own set of recommendations, soon," the official said, noting that they might also suggest some options in lieu of the implementation of the CAA.

He said the results of the DOE study, along with those of other government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation and Communications, would be submitted to President Arroyo who in turn will decide whether a deferment of the CAA’s implementation is possible.

Former Energy Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho had revealed the government’s plan to tap the ADB to conduct a comprehensive study and come up with recommendations that would include the proposed deferment of the implementation of the CAA in 2002-2004.

In the next two years, the country may be burdened with higher prices of petroleum products due to the impact of the implementation of the CAA.

In a DOE simulation, the price of diesel may go up by at least 61 centavos per liter while gasoline products will increase by P2 per liter. Power rates are also expected to rise by 50 to 90 centavos per kilowatt hour.

These simulations, the DOE said, are based on anticipated investment costs to retrofit power plants and refineries and costs to meet monitoring and reportorial requirements.

It was feared that the general public is not yet ready to absorb the impact of CAA, particularly now that oil prices are continuously rising.

The first stage of the CAA became effective in December last year with the total phaseout of leaded gasoline in the country.

The implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) of the CAA took effect last Jan. 1, 2001 but the proponents of the law are allowed an 18-month grace period or until March 2002 to fully comply with the IRRs.