San Miguel willing to rehabilitate BNPP

MANILA, Philippines - Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said it is willing to rehabilitate the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and join all biddings for the government’s infrastructure projects specifically the ones included in the Private Public Partnership (PPP) list.

In a chance interview at the Manila Hotel, SMC president Ramon S. Ang told reporters that he is willing to put in his money to operate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant that was built during the Marcos administration.

“We will join the bidding. We are willing to acquire power assets,” Ang said in Filipino. However, he said the Bataan plant may not be up for bidding at this time because of the issues surrounding nuclear power.

At the same time, Ang said he would like to join the bid for the infrastructure projects under the PPP. “We will bid in all of them,” Ang said in jest.

Ang said San Miguel’s move to diversify has been very successful. In fact, he said the other businesses have grow bigger than their core business. Ang estimated that 80 percent of San Miguel’s cash flow is now from non-food assets.

The government has released the top 10 PPP projects with a combined worth of more than P127.78 billion. The infrastructure projects were mainly for the improvement of the rail system, roads and airports.

The biggest project is for the expansion project of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) which has a projected cost of P70 billion.

This is followed by the North Luzon Exressway and the South Luzon Expressway Link which has a projected cost of P21 billion. The MRT Line 2 has an estimated cost of P11.3 billion while the CALA Expressway has an estimated cost of P10.5 billion.

The other projects are the Panglao Airport worth P7.5 billion, the Puerto Prinsesa Airport worth P4.36 billion and the Daraga International Airport worth P3 billion. Projects which do not have costs yet but are part of the list are the Development of City Terminal for the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), the privatization of the Laguindingan Airport Operation and Maintenance and the Supply of Treated Bulk Water for Metro Manila.