Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 8 Apr 1992 17:43:58 PDT
From:         "Indonesia Publications/Task Force" <apakabar@IGC.ORG>
Subject:      Lights Out in Philippines
X-To:         seasia-l@msu.edu

   AP, Manila, Oliver Teves, April 8 - The lights are literally going out
across this island nation because of a critical electricity shortage.
   A power crisis is one of the major problems President Corazon Aquino
will leave to her successor.
   During the first three months of this year, the main island Luzon,
which includes Manila and the major industrial centers, was without
electricity for 347 hours, the equivalent of nearly 15 days.
   On Monday, Manila was without power for up to six hours because two
aging thermal plants broke down, although the National Power Corp. had
spent $96 million to rehabilitate them.
   Darkened traffic lights caused massive gridlock during the noon rush
hour. Computers blinked off, elevators stalled and air conditioners
clicked to a stop during the hottest month of the year.
   Shortage are even grimmer on Mindanao, the second largest of the
7,100 Philippine islands. Last year, the island lost power for 1,418
hours, nearly two months, the power company said.
   "That put a cap on growth," said Conrad Andres, an analyst at the
Asia Equity securities firm. "Definitely, if there is a continuous power
supply, there will be more vigorous growth."
   Engineers blame the crisis on a persistent drought, aging generators
and poor government planning. The situation should improve next year,
but the country will remain electricity-poor through much of the 1990s,
they say.
   "In Luzon, the situation is critical because our reserve is very
low," said Pablo Malixi, the power company president. "We are in a
crisis situation in Mindanao."
   Much of the criticism for the crisis has fallen on President Aquino,
who leaves office June 30.
   She abolished the Ministry of Energy after taking office in a 1986
popular revolt that ousted President Ferdinand Marcos.
   With energy planning concentrated in the overworked Office of the
President, the government did not effectively plan an increase in the
electricity supply as the economy began to revive in the late 1980s.
   In April 1986, Mrs. Aquino mothballed a 620-megawatt nuclear plant
built by Westinghouse Electric Corp., because of allegations the
facility was unsafe and the contractors bribed Marcos.
   The government reached a settlement last month under which
Westinghouse will upgrade and operate the plant, but it won't be on line
for three years -- if the settlement is approved by the Philippine
Congress.
   A three-year-old drought has reduced the capacity of hydroelectric
plants, which account for 90 percent of Mindanao's power. The aging
power plants running to compensate for the hydroelectric shortage
frequently break down.
   All seven candidates in the May 11 presidential election promise to
make energy a top priority. But the new president will have to contend
with vigorous opposition from environmental groups, which have gone to
court to block construction of some plants.
   The government had planned to build three geothermal plants at the
Mount Apo volcano in southeastern Mindanao, with the first facility
expected to be generating electricity by the end of 1991.
   But environmental protests delayed the start of major construction,
which will take three to five years to complete.
   Environmental concerns also have delayed construction of a planned
300-megawatt coal-fired plant south of Manila.
   Local officials and the power company have agreed on most community
demands. But the company complains that local authorities keep raising
additional demands, such as an artificial fishing reef, in effect
holding the project hostage.
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