THE Japanese and Philippine governments on Thursday signed an agreement to build a P340- million energy project for Mindanao’s conflict-affected areas.
The project, to be financed by a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), will benefit 44,000 households in the region.
“This project is part of our continuing commitment to support peace and development in Mindanao,” Jica Chief Representative Susumu Ito said. “By helping resolve the power-supply issues in conflict-affected areas, we aim to help the Philippines create more economic activities in the region.”
The project, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said, will help improve power supply in Mindanao where household electrification is only at 72.38 percent.
Pernia said the project would involve the provision of power-distribution equipment, such as transformers, poles, conductors and boom trucks, to six electric cooperatives.
“The project is expected to contribute to the long-term goal of lowering system loss by 13 percent, increase in-line capacity by 130 percent, and improve cooperatives’ power-distribution equipment installation and maintenance work in the Bangsamoro area,” Pernia said.
Jica said the project is part of its support for the Bangsamoro people and the Philippines as a whole.
The project was identified under the Jica’s Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP) 2, which was meant to jump-start economic activities in Mindanao’s conflict areas.
Japan is the Philippines’s top source of official development assistance (ODA). In 2015 loans and grants from Japan accounted for 35.19 percent of the country’s total ODA portfolio.
Jica’s ODA to the Philippines amounted to $5.53 billion in 2015. Of this, $5.39 billion were loans and $139.82 million were grants.