Bat – Man project looking to be under PPP Program
- November 25, 2016
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The expanded Batangas – Manila Natural Gas Pipeline project is the only energy project that can be found under the Public – Private Partnership (PPP) program, a top
The expanded Batangas – Manila Natural Gas Pipeline project is the only energy project that can be found under the Public – Private Partnership (PPP) program, a top PPP official said.
“For now, coming from the DOE, there is one energy-related project. It’s not about power generation, it’s about the transmission of natural gas,” PPP Center executive director Ferdinand Pecson said.
The Bat – Man project is still being processed under the PPP program and the DOE previously said that it is looking at options in getting the project off ground.
However, Pecson said that the DOE is still revising the scope of the original P10.53 billion Bat – Man project that includes not only pipelines but also the regasification facility for natural gas.
“Actually, what the DOE has to decide about…is the scope that they now want to have for this project. Before it’s just a pipeline now they said they actually now want to go further upstream and include the facility or the plant that will take in the raw material and process this into gas that will then be distributed,” he said.
Originally, Bat – Man project is a 121-kilometer transmission pipeline that will transport and supply natural gas from Batangas to Metro Manila.
But, forming a fuel mix policy is critical in realizing the project because massive development like Bat – Man would need incentives, Pecson said.
“It will need fuel mix policy…because along with that policy is really creating the right kinds of incentives and also other measures for that policy to actually happen. There will be sort of an intervention in terms of incentives that will be provided. So the kinds of energy in that mix they would like to promote will actually happen,” he said.
In previous reports, DOE said that they are working on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) policy in providing additional power for the country.
The agency is also reviewing the country’s fuel mix policy “to find the correct mix.” DOE is looking at 65 percent from baseload plants, 25 percent from mid – merit plants and 10 percent from peaking plants.
