The government is looking to rehabilitate the Agus River hydroelectric system in Mindanao through Chinese funding, an official said.
In a report by the Inquirer, Department of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that the rehab of the Mindanao based hydro system will be included in the second batch to be pitched for the Chinese financing.
“I told the Chinese [that Agus rehabilitation] is very important for us because no matter how much infrastructure you have, if you don’t have power it doesn’t work right,” Dominguez added.
The Finance secretary added the Agus- Pulangi is operating at a 60 percent capacity only.
“Now that we have excess capacity in Mindanao, now is the time to fix that up so that at the time when they have to shut the plugs down for maintenance, we will have the extra capacity there,” he said.
According to a report by The Manila Times, the Department of Energy (DOE) said that Beijing was offering around Php 20. 35 billion to rehabilitate the said hydropower complex.
But according to Dominguez, this amount has yet to be fixed.
“We will have to do the feasibility study. It is quite a complex project,” he said.
The Agus Power Plant complex is worth six power plants stretching from the mouth of Lake Lanao in Marawi City to the Maria Cristina Falls in Iligan City. The power plants produce around 700 to 800 megawatts of power.
