By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, Feb 25 (PNA) — The Manila Electric Company-Powergen Corporation (MGen) is seeking a joint-venture partner for its 1,200-megawatt (MW) Atimonan Coal-Fired Power Project in Quezon province, announced Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Oscar Reyes on Wednesday.
”Looking for possible joint ventures. Not purely for financial perspective, but you know it is a big project,” Reyes told reporters.
He said the project which will greatly support the Luzon grid may even need foreign partners, adding Atimonan is a huge project, estimated to cost USD 2 billion.
However, Reyes stressed that Meralco will allow foreign investors, as long as Meralco has the majority stake.
He mentioned the project has already engaged an international engineering firm as co-owners and the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) pre-qualification process has started.
Reyes said the Environmental Compliance Cerficate (ECC) application processing for the Atimonan project has also begun, pointing out the project is well-on its way.
Last January, Quezon Governor David Suarez said the Atimonan project is lacking environmental compliance requirements, which had caused its delay.
Meralco PowerGen Corporation is a full-subsidiary of Meralco, engaged in developing cost-competitive power plants. (PNA)