Napocor, Miescor may revive rehab plan for Ambuklao

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the Lopez-owned Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp. (Miescor) are discussing the possibility of reviving the rehabilitation program for the 75-megawatt (MW) Ambuklao hydro-electric power plant.

"They (Miescor) have indicated plans to go back after they have suspended work in the project in 2000," Napocor OIC-president Roland S. Quilala said, in an interview.

Quilala’s statement came after the state-owned PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and Alstom have expressed interest to continue the rehabilitation of the hydro plant in Benguet.

"There was a proposal from EDC to revive the rehabilitation of Ambuklao after Miescor. In fact, Miescor has informed us that it wants the project back, Quilala said.

According to the Napocor chief, they need to thresh out some issues with Miescor before jumping into another agreement with other interested parties.

Quilala said Miescor wants an extension of the ROL contract for another five years which Napocor rejected. "This is why they stopped the rehab of the plant," he said.

"Miescor, however, has not totally abandoned the plant since they still has 15-year with us," he said.

Another Napocor official, who requested anonymity, though said Miescor has long-standing claims for reimbursements of lease payments amounting to P126 million.

This issue, the official said, was the main reason why Miescor decided to pre-terminate the contract for the rehabilitation of the hydro plant.

But the official said they are currently finalizing the terms of reference (TOR) for the settlement of the lease payments. "We hope to finish the TOR soon and come up with a compromise settlement with Miescor. We will submit it for board approval anytime now," he said. – Donnabelle Gatdula