Published : Wednesday, December 14, 2011 00:00
Written by : Darwin G. Amojelar, Senior Reporter
STATE-RUN Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) on Tuesday said it plans to privatize more idle assets next year to raise more revenues.
In a briefing, Arnel Casanova, BCDA president and chief executive told reporters that the agency plans to privatize about 30,000 hectares of idle land.
These properties are located in Bataan, Clark in Pampanga, San Fernando in La Union, and in Manila, among others.
“We are going to revalidate our master plan. We want to privatize these idle assets to raise more revenues,” Casanova said.
He said the company aims to raise about P35 billion from the privatization of these idle assets.
In the first 11 months of this year, BCDA remitted P2.137 billion to the national treasury for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Fund.
Casanova said the share of the AFP Modernization Fund came from the net proceeds of non-sale transactions such as lease and joint-venture agreements of former Metro Manila military camps, the biggest two of which are the former Fort Bonifacio and a portion of the Villamor Air Base, which have since been developed into Bonifacio Global City and Newport City, respectively. In addition, BCDA and John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC) would undertake the construction of a mini-hydrop power plant in the John Hay Economic Zone (JHEZ) to generate ample supply for its current and future locators.
Casanova said the construction of the mini-hydro power plant would help market the JHSEZ as the top choice to do business in the north.
“Having our own power plant that supplies reliable and uniterrupted electricity would definitely increase the attractiveness of the JHSEZ to prospective investors,” he said. The mini-hydro plant would be built in the areas of Camp 6 and Camp 7, which are part of the JHSEZ property.
“The area is around four hectares and approximately some 20 minutes from Baguio City,” Jamie Eloise
Agbayani, JHMC president and chief executive said.
She said the area has an old and abandoned mini-hydro power plant used by the Americans.
“When the Americans left Camp John Hay in 1991, the mini-hydro power plant was abandoned and through the years was cannibalized and now unserviceable,” Agbayani said.
Agbayani said the old mini-hydro plant cannot be revived, but the area is still good for generating
hydropower given the area’s natural endowment.
“It would require a new turbine and other facilities to produce the needed power and water for irrigation,” she said.
Agbayani added that BCDA and JHMC are now looking for prospective investors to build the mini-hydro power plant
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