Davao City dads OK Aboitiz power plant

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Davao City council has finally approved the proposed 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant of Aboitiz Power Corp. as well as the conversion of the plant site in Binugao, Toril district.

Aboitiz Power Corp., however, is not celebrating just yet. Manuel Orig, Aboitiz Power first vice president for Mindanao affairs, said they still have to secure an approval from the Department of Agrarian Reform for the conversion of its plant site from agricultural to industrial.

Orig said they hope to secure this DAR approval by the end of the year so they could start construction of the multibillion-peso power plant by January 2012.

In Tuesday’s session, the city council approved the Aboitiz power plant project after Aboitiz satisfactorily assured the council, headed by Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, that it would no longer be drilling into the Binugao aquifer for use in the power plant’s operation.

Aboitiz instead proposed to tap two free-flowing springs in the area as the main source of its water needs, along with other available surface water sources as alternatives.

The two springs reportedly produce 2,100 cubic meters of water per day while the proposed coal-fired power plant would only need 1,500 cubic meters for its daily operation.

With this, the city council readily approved the project along with the land conversion, after almost one and a half years of deliberations.

Duterte told reporters that his only concern with the project before was its plan to extract water from underground. But this changed since Aboitiz has already committed not to do any drilling in the area, he said.