‘We can only marry one’: Philippines courts China and Japan for US$135 billion investment in energy projects
President 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
The Philippines is seeking investment from China and Japan for US$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 stabilise 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 this week in Taguig City. “We are open to all parties, all countries. In all the trips we had, we made the sales pitch.”
There’s a lot of expressions of interest to invest in the Philippines ... We are open to all parties, all countries
The world’s two biggest economies after the US have poured billions into the region’s energy development. Japan has either sponsored or financed 21 projects with a combined value of US$23.7 billion that are currently under construction or planned in Southeast Asia, while China has backed 21 projects worth US$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 (US$1.95 billion) liquefied natural gas terminal to supply plants that generate a combined 3.5 gigawatts of power. The facilities now rely on the Malampaya gas field off Palawan province, which is expected to be depleted by 2024.
The LNG terminal project, to be built in Batangas province south of the capital Manila, will have an initial annual capacity of 5 million metric tonnes when it starts by 2021 and will include a power plant with a capacity of between 200 megawatts and 800 megawatts, Cusi said. It will later be expanded to 10 million tonnes, as the nation has ambitions to be a LNG trading hub for Asia, Cusi said.