The Philippines is seeking investment from China and Japan for $135 billion worth of power projects that President Rodrigo Duterte’s government is ready to
The Philippines is seeking investment from China and Japan for $135 billion worth of power projects that President Rodrigo Duterte’s government is ready to fast-track.
The Southeast Asian nation has held discussions with China, Japan, Russia and other countries about helping it boost generation capacity by 43 gigawatts in the coming decades to stabilize its power supply as the economy expands, according to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. Projects endorsed by his office will be approved within 30 days under an order recently signed by Duterte, instead of the months or even years it had taken proponents in the past, he said.
“There’s a lot of expressions of interest to invest in the Philippines, and we’ re going to make it easy for investors, ” Cusi said in an interview Wednesday in Taguig City. “We are open to all parties, all countries. In all the trips we had, we made the sales pitch.”
The world’s two biggest economies after the U. S. have poured billions into the region’s energy development. Japan has either sponsored or financed 21 projects with a combined value of $23.7 billion that are currently under construction or planned in Southeast Asia, while China has backed 21 projects worth $32.8 billion, according to BMI Research.
Duterte has tried to develop closer ties with China since taking power last year as he seeks both new power plants and offshore gas resources, particularly for the island of Luzon that accounts for about two-thirds of the economy but has precarious electricity supplies. The forecast power needed through 2040 — roughly three times the generation capacity of Singapore — will support economic growth encouraged by airports, railways and bridges that the president has promised to build, Cusi said.
The Philippines also plans to start building by next year a 100 billion-peso ($1.95 billion) liquefied natural gas terminal to supply plants that generate a combined 3.
