Casecnan dam builder keen on Napocor

CE Casecnan Energy and Water Co. Inc. (CalEnergy), an affiliate of US-based MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., is keen on acquiring the National Power Corp., should the Department of Energy come out with concrete guidelines and parameters on its sale.

CalEnergy International president David A. Baldwin told newsmen during the inauguration of the $650 million Casecnan Multi Purpose Irrigation and Power Project in Nueva Ecija that his company remains very bullish about prospects in the Philippines despite a global recession that has hit America, Japan and other markets and despite the ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East.

Baldwin said his company is awaiting keenly the privatization guidelines now being drafted by the DOE as well as the pricing parameters for the assets of Napocor. But he cautioned that his company will only participate in any bidding that will be open and transparent in all aspects, especially in pricing and bidding requirements.

He said he would also not agree with the condition of a right of first refusal being given his company, which operates three hydroelectric power plants in Leyte for the Philippine National Oil Company-Export Development Corp. Not even his company’s existing relations with PNOC should be a ground for his company to be given preferential or special treatment. He said he wants a fair game in the privatization program for Napocor.

The Casecnan dam project in Nueva Ecija is considered as the world’s largest combined irrigation and hydroelectric power project, potential transforming water and power deficient areas in Luzon into food baskets and industrial centers.

Its inauguration last Friday by Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor and Administrator Jesus Emmanuel Paras of the National Irrigation Administration along with Governors Joson (Nueva Ecija) and Rodolfo Agbayani of Nueva Vizcaya will start to provide water to the farms of two towns in Pampanga (Candaba and Arayat), two towns in Bulacan (San Ildefonso and San Miguel) and the three cities and 19 municipalities of Nueva Ecija.

Originally planned at $2 billion during the time of the late President Ramos, the project’s cost was later scaled down to $650 million because there were no takers and the high rise dam concept was stiffly opposed by the natives of Nueva Vizcaya, the Bugkalots.

With its operation, some 35,000 hectares of new rice farms will be irrigated while supply of irrigation to existing farms will be stabilized for some 102,000 hectares in Central Luzon. These new areas and the provision of stable supply in existing farms are expected to result in an incremental rice output of 465,000 tons per year for at least 50 years. But the actual life span of the project is at least 80 years, David Sokol, chairman of the CE Casecnan said.

The Casecnan dam project was put up as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme and is considered by local and national officials, including the company, as the most dramatic evidence of a successful partnership between government and private sector.

Water collection of the dam starts from the Casecnan weir (38.5 meters high and 156 meters long) and the Taan weir (21.5 meters high and 174.75 meters long), which will divert water from the two rivers into a de-silting facility that will block sediments.

Though the dam will benefit more Nueva Ecija and other provinces in Central Luzon, its main water source (Nueva Vizcaya) will also benefit the citrus orchards and maintenance of watersheds in the province by the contractor for the remaining 20 years of their management. The company also committed to provide Nueva Vizcaya with small water impounding projects which it needs most.

With the dam’s operation it is expected that the country will finally be able to attain food security in the near term and at the same time fulfill its vision of getting into the export market once again.