Renewable energy investment may be costly but operations cheaper: engineer

By Rinnah B. Flores

INVESTMENTS in renewable or clean energy plants are costly, but the operational costs of such plants are cheaper than conventional ones, an energy official said.

Engineer Jun Baclay of the Department of Energy (DOE) made the comment during a visit to the first centralized solar power plant in the Philippines on Pangan-an Island in Lapu-Lapu City.

Renewable energy is a critical component of the government’s plan to provide enough electricity to the country in the coming years.

In its website, DOE said one of the energy sector’s objectives is to pursue cleaner and more efficient energy utilization and to adopt clean technologies.

Investments in these cleaner plants are funded by the private sector.

For example, the Ambuklao Hydro Electric Plant is a joint project of SN Power of Norway and Aboitiz Equity Ventures. It has a budget of $280.4 million for its rehabilitation costs. It is expected to produce 105 megawatts (mw) of electricity upon completion in December.

The first commercial capacity on-grid wind turbine farm in Southeast Asia was realized through the efforts of Philippine and Danish businessmen and engineers and the
Danish International Development Agency. The Northwind Farm in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte has an investment of $54 million.

“Only four people are mainly manning the 20 wind turbines located in a nine-kilometer strip of shore in Bangui Bay.

Each turbine is rated to produce 1.65 mw,” said operations manager Dino Tiatco of Northwind Farm.

On Pangan-an Island where the solar power plant providing energy to 236 households is located, its barangay cooperative is operating the plant, while Baclay visits at least once a month.

The plant is a joint project of the Philippines and Belgium, with an investment of P22 billion. Its battery alone costs P6 million.

The Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC) launched last month the first 82-mw unit of its 246-mw clean coal plant located in Toledo City. With the completion of the two remaining units later this year, it is expected that there will be enough electricity for the province by the end of the year.

The investment of $450 million in the three units is the “single largest power plant investment in Cebu,” CEDC said earlier in a statement.

“The project uses clean coal through the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology which reduces pollutants to negligible levels. There is another 50-mw clean coal plant located in Mabalacat, Pampanga,” said Mae Catherine Melchor of CEDC.

CEDC is a consortium of Global Business Power Corp., Formosa Heavy Industries and Abovant Holdings, a joint venture of Aboitiz Power Corp. and Vivant Corp.

Based on current projections of the DOE, renewable energy will provide up to 40 percent of the country’s primary energy requirements over the 10-year period beginning in 2003.

Cebu City in talks to construct fast-ferry port, sports facility in SRP

Written by Wilfredo Rodolfo III / Reporter

Monday, 12 April 2010 23:56

THE Cebu City government is in the advanced stages of negotiations to build a fast-ferry port and a water- sports recreation facility on the 240-hectare reclaimed South Road Properties (SRP). Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari Yu said the two developments are set to start soon, coinciding with separate wholesale developments being undertaken by the Filinvest and SM groups on the reclaimed property. “We cannot reveal the names of the developers, but we are talking to them right now,” Yu said. The CIPC is a nonprofit organization subsidized by the city and provincial governments to market investment opportunities in the city, as well as serve as a one-stop assistance center for investors and businessmen. The water-sport facility will occupy one side of the unfilled portion of the SRP, called Pond A. It is a 60-hectare lake left unfilled after legal troubles hounded the project in the mid-1990s. Yu said the facility will take up 15 hectares on one side of the lake. Work is also set to start on a fast-ferry terminal at the former Kawit island, now the cornerstone development of the whole SRP. Fast-ferry operator Ocean Jet is set to launch their ferries from SRP to Tagbilaran City in Bohol and Dumaguete City in Oriental Negros. Completed in 2001, the SRP was built with a ¥12-billion loan obtained by the city from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC). The loan is payable until 2020. Joint-venture deals with Filinvest (52 hectares) and SM (32 hectares) are now generating an estimated P1 billion in amortizations for the city. The amount covers almost half of the P2-billion annual operating budget of Cebu City. After signing the latest deal with SM, Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced the city will double the lot prices at SRP.

Redpages.ph, the way to do business

Sunday, 28 February 2010 15:56

The advent of internet has opened countless opportunities for every discerning businessman. Creative Online Media Inc. chief executive officer Dennis Ng saw an opportunity in the services sector by providing a platform for doing business. Ng created redpages.ph to allow small and medium enterprises to sell their products and look for suppliers through the internet. Now, redpages.ph is the fastest growing marketplace in the Philippines providing an online marketplace. There are already 17,000 Philippine companies that have been pre-listed in the redpages.ph for a limited exposure of their company for free. “Purchasers need not scan the telephone directory and call each one of them for quotations. All a purchaser has to do is post their buying leads for suppliers to see and send their quotations, Buyers can post unlimited buying leads at no cost,” Ng said SMEs are entitled to feature up to five products. Each company can upload products, photos and company profile. But, for a company to be assigned its own website plus unlimited number of product postings, they have to upgrade by paying an annual fee of P8,888. “The annual payment is but just peanuts compared to the countless opportunities they can avail through the redpages.ph,” Ng said. Users can view mini-webpages and listings in over 30 industry categories and nearly 350 product categories from agriculture to funerals and so much more. The company also offers 1,005 design templates to choose from to suit a particular company’s business. All companies under the premium listing are given specific website. Once a company has decided to upgrade into the premium list, it would be subjected to a verification procedure by a third party to ensure that all the listed companies are legitimate businesses. Creative Online has engaged the services of Dun & Bradstreet, a US-based company that provides international and US business credit information and credit reports, for the authentication process, which is done on an annual basis. “Our primary objectives are to promote e-commerce within the Philippines and utilize the internet to link businesses with international buyers, vendors, trade facilitation bodies and government institutions. We hope to enable Filipino businesses to create a place for themselves in the e-world and get their share out of this fast growing trade channel,” said Ng. The company is also engaged in search engine optimization by continually updating Yahoo and Google of their listed companies so that searches would automatically redirect to the redpages website and put their companies on top the list. True enough, redpages.ph always comes among the top links for every search for a Philippine company. Indeed, gone are the days when businesses have to rely on word of mouth and person to person contact to promote their businesses. The web-based way of doing business is now the demand of the times. “On our part, we are making selling and buying easy,” said Ng. Ng expects to list 500 companies by end this year and at least 2,000 by next year. There are estimated 1.3 million domestic enterprises that can be listed into the redpages. Ng could only dream that they would someday become the Alibaba of the Philippines, but who knows? Alibaba provides B2B for Chinese firms with an estimated listing of 4 million now although China has 30 million SMEs. There are long term goals including listing in the stock market, but for now Ng would rather concentrate on the strengthening and building their capacity.

BPI Family Savings teams up with Robinsons Land on housing loans

Written by Erik de la Cruz / Reporter

Wednesday, 31 March 2010 19:14

BPI Family Savings Bank (BFSB), the thrift bank unit of Bank of the Philippine Islands, has partnered with Robinsons Land Corp. in offering what they describe as the best financing deals for prospective home buyers. BFSB and RLC officials on Tuesday announced their partnership and the deals they will offer between now and June, and painted an upbeat outlook for the local housing sector. Alfonso Salcedo Jr., president and chief executive officer of BFSB, said demand for home loans remained “strong” and that he continued to expect the bank’s housing loan portfolio to grow between 10 percent and 15 percent this year. “We’re well within that projection. The pipeline looks very encouraging,” he said at a news briefing. Frederick Go, president and CEO of Robinsons Land, said demand in the property sector was still coming from the retail and residential segments. “I really see a good [year] for the property industry as a whole,” he told reporters. Property developers remain aggressive in building homes given the housing backlog in the Philippines, and target in particular those cash-rich overseas Filipinos. After the success of its Housing Madness promo in Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, where it brought together developers under one roof to offer special home-financing deals, BFSB will hold a similar event this time with Robinsons Land, from April 9 to 11 at Robinsons Place Manila and Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas. Robinsons Land will exhibit more than 20 projects during the event. Jocelyn Sta. Ana, BFSB senior vice president and head of retail mortgage division, said the bank will offer “very competitive” interest rates of as low as 8.0 percent to home-loan applicants. That rate applies on the first year of the loan, while a fixed rate of 8.75 percent is applicable over the subsequent years for a five-year loan. The bank can extend a loan equivalent to up to 80 percent of the net selling price of the housing unit, depending on the buyer’s capability to pay. Processing of loan application can take up to five days if all documents required are presented. Such rates, according to Sta. Ana, are more attractive compared with regular published rates for a five-year loan, which are usually as high as 9.5 percent applicable on the first year and 10.25 percent for the next four years. Prospective home buyers can apply for loans with maturities of five, 10, 15, 20, or as long as 25 years. Salcedo said prospective buyers of Robinsons Land units can avail themselves of loans from BFSB until June. He said local interest rates were expected to go up in the second half of the year, when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is widely expected to tighten its monetary policy through hikes in policy rates. Robinsons Land, Go said, will also offer discounted prices to prospective buyers.

Cebu’s tourism enterprise to open first sea-based water theme park

Written by Willy Rodolfo III / Reporter

Wednesday, 31 March 2010 19:21

CEBU is set to open its first sea-based water theme park as the tourism enterprise that brought brands like Island Souvenirs and Island Banca Cruises launches its first venture into property development. Talima Adventure and Water Park on Olango Island off east Mactan is currently on its dry run and should open to the public before the end of April, Islands Group chief executive Jay Aldeguer said. More than just a beach destination, Talima brought in more than P10 million worth of water-recreation systems from inflatables to traditional watersport equipment. “In order for Cebu to compete with our neighbors in Asia, we have to constantly develop new products and new attractions. We have to constantly innovate,” Aldeguer said. What will be opened to the public will only be phase 1 of the development, with succeeding land-based expansions ready to respond to the public’s acceptance of the project. The water park has more than a hectare of property ready for development. Among the attractions of the park are the giant inflatable slide, the “iceberg” eater trampolines and glass-bottomed boats, among others. Olango Island is already popular on its own with its world-renowned bird sanctuary, a vital stopover for migratory birds, and is one of the biggest and richest in the region. Fish sanctuaries surrounding the island is also a popular destination for tourists with its rich marine life and lively fish interaction activities. With this in mind, Aldeguer appointed an environmentalist and marine biologist to oversee the Talima project to assure that all development is pegged on the environment and not the other way around. “Some projects complete their development first then adjust the environment. We base our  development with the environment-protection atmosphere first,” he said. The property managers are also internationally certified safety and rescue officers to ensure reliability of the equipment and activities. Marketing manager Carlo Borromeo said the initial fees for the park is P250, which covers both the entrance fee and the use of the facilities. Talima is just a 10-minute cross by boat from mainland Mactan.