Philippines May Get ADB Loan for Gas Project

Philippines may get loan facility from the Asian Development Bank for the $2.1 billion Batangas-Manila natural gas project. The project involves construction of a 105 kilometer gas pipeline.

The pipeline is supposed to run from the Malampaya gas-fired facility in Batangas to Sucat, Parañaque, where the Sucat power plant may be converted into a natural gas facility. The pipeline project, which the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. was tasked to lead, is the first phase of the government’s natural gas program.

However, media reports said citing ADB officials that nothing has been finalized yet. But the Bank has previously supported gas transmission pipeline projects in other countries such as Bangladesh. 

“We don’t normally get involved in upstream activities, which are led by the private sector. But if there’s a request from the government of the Philippines, as part of the overall country operation plan, that is another thing we may consider,” Song Pil-Bae Song, senior advisor at the ADB’s regional and sustainable development department was quoted by the media as saying.