BCDA, Meralco-Marubeni consortium to ink power contract for New Clark City

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is set to sign the joint venture agreement (JVA) with the consortium of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), Marubeni Corp., Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc. and Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc. for power distribution in New Clark City this month. 

 “We expect to sign the JVA with Meralco-Marubeni this month since we have completed our post-qualification verification,” Nena Radoc, senior vice president and chief finance officer, as well as chairperson of the Joint Venture Selection Committee at BCDA said in a text message. 

While the post-qualification verification has been completed, she said the BCDA still has to wait for the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel’s final review of the draft JVA, as well as work on the available schedule of the parties before signing. 

The Meralco-Marubeni consortium made a power distribution rate offer of P0.6188 per kilowatt hour (kwh) for the project, beating the P0.9888/kwh bid of the Aboitiz-Kepco consortium of Olongapo Energy Corp. and Kepco Philippines Holdings Inc.

Earlier, the BCDA set the power distribution ceiling rate for New Clark City at P1.25 per kwh. 

BCDA is promoting New Clark City as the country’s first smart, green and sustainable metropolis.

New Clark City will have the first completely smart power grid in the country.

The smart power grid, which would be supported by state-of-the-art facilities, would be comparable with other smart cities in the world and have high reliability standards.

It will also allow locators to see real-time information from the distribution utility to better manage their electricity consumption. 

The first phase of the New Clark City development covers the construction of the National Government Administrative Center to host back-up offices of government agencies, as well as world-class sports facilities to be used for the Southeast Asian Games in November. 

Apart from efforts to have reliable power distribution for locators and residents of New Clark City, the BCDA also has also taken steps to ensure provision of water and wastewater services in the city. 

Last month, the  BCDA entered into a JVA with the Villar-led consortium composed of PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp., Prime Asset Ventures Inc., MGS Construction Inc. and Israel’s Tahal Group after the group submitted the lowest bid for water and wastewater services in the New Clark City at P9.45 per cubic meter.