Napocor hikes 2002 budget by 43% to P232B

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – State-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) will increase its budget for 2002 by 43 percent to P232.37 billion from this year’s level of P162.54 billion.

Energy Secretary Vince S. Perez said Napocor’s proposed budget was presented and approved by the House subcommittee on budget for energy.

"This is one of the budget proposals that was speedily approved by Congress," he said.

According to Perez, the increase in the budget would cover the company’s extensive capital expenditures in preparation for its privatization early next year.

By the first quarter of 2002, Napocor is selling its transmission assets amounting to roughly $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion. This will be followed by the sale of the power firm’s generation assets which is expected to generate about $5 billion.

Napocor wants to ensure that it fetches a good price for its assets.

Specifically, the bulk of Napocor’s budget for 2002 would finance the fuel and power purchase costs of the Ilijan combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Batangas; the operations of the Leyte-Mindanao and Leyte-Bohol interconnection; the rehabilitation of the Tiwi-Makban geothermal power plants in Bicol and Laguna.

Part of the budget will go to debt servicing. As of end-December 2000, Napocor’s debts reached P600 billion.

Despite the recent terrorist attacks in the US, Perez expressed optimism that the government would be able to complete the privatization of Napocor next year to pave the way for the restructuring of the entire power industry as prescribed under the new Power Law.

For the past six months, Napocor was able to trim its net loss to only P2 billion from P6 billion in the same period last year. – Donnabelle Gatdula