Transco sets bidding for P1.9-B transmission project

The National Transmission Corp. (Transco) will start the bidding process for the P1.9-billion Cebu-Mactan interconnection project (CMIP) on Feb. 28 this year.

Transco vice president for project management group Dominador Geonzon said the project was approved recently by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board.

Project financing will come from the Miyazawa Initiative under the Special Yen Loan Package, $29.3 million (P1.4 billion), plus a counterpart fund of P503 million to be shouldered by the Philippine government.

The bidding process will be advertised in March while the bid proper will be done in June. The project is expected to be completed in May 2005.

Another project, Batangas Transmission Reinforcement Project (BTRP), will cost some $39 million (P1.95 billion) and will be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The BTRP will run from January 2004 to December 2005 for the setting up of the transmission lines and substations.

Included in the BTRP is the San Lorenzo to Batangas transmission system which will be completed by January 2004 after the auction was conducted last Jan.23 this year.

The other BTRP transmission line projects and their projected time of completion are: Batangas to New Makban (December 2004); New Makban to Calamba Tower (June 2004); Calamba Tower to Binan (August 2004).

The substation projects under the BTRP include the Batangas substation which will be completed by February 2005; New Makban (May 2005) and Biñan (December 2005).

Another project, Leyte-Cebu project amounting to $68.5 million, is scheduled to be auctioned off by June this year. The project will be completed by December 2004.

The Leyte-Bohol project, on the other hand, was signed on Oct. 30, 2002. The project has a contract duration of 13 months and is targeted for completion by April 2004. The cost for this project is placed at $10.6 million (P530 million) plus P150 million and will be funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The Transco is also pushing for the acceleration of another crucial project, Leyte-Mindanao Interconnection Project (LMIP), which was moved to 2011 based on the latest Transmission Development Plan (TDP).

The $354 million (P17.7 billion) LMIP’s implementation was halted pending the privatization of the Transco. It was believed that due to the huge investment requirement of the said project it would be better to wait for the winning concessionaire to implement it.