ADB helps Philippine electric coops
bring power to remote areas
Jan 23, 2007 - Asia Pulse Data Source
Residents in remote areas of the Philippines
with limited access to electricity may see light at
the end of the tunnel with new financial support from
Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that target
electric cooperatives.
Electric cooperatives, small distribution
utilities in which all users own shares, are common
in rural areas not served by larger national utilities.
However, even villages with access to electricity
through the cooperatives have many households that
are not able to connect to the electricity because
of cost or technical limitations.
The Japan Special Fund is providing
a US$550,000 grant to be managed by ADB to prepare
the Rural Electric Cooperatives Development Project.
The government of the Philippines, through
the National Electrification Administration (NEA),
is contributing US$236,000 to the project. NEA will
implement the technical assistance.
"In line with its poverty reduction
program, the Philippines is eyeing 100 per cent electrification
of villages by 2009. But the technical and financial
capability of electric cooperatives is still inadequate
to ensure quality supply to consumers," said Yongping
Zhai, Principal Energy Specialist of ADB's Southeast
Asia Department.
The project will consolidate and strengthen
the technical and financial capability of electric
cooperatives in the Philippines, particularly those
that are not viable, to enable them to provide efficient,
adequate and reliable service at reasonable rates.
At the end of 2006, about 95 per cent
of the 36,030 villages in the Philippines had access
to electricity. Those without access are mostly located
in isolated areas.
