Mindanao rivers seen key electricity source

DAVAO CITY—Mindanao may not need fuel-fired generation plants after all because the island’s river systems can produce up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity, a Malacañang official said.

Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) Chair Luwalhati Antonino said putting up mini-hydropower facilities in these river systems can help solve Mindanao’s power shortage.

“You’ll be surprised to know” the potential of Mindanao’s rivers, said Antonino, a Cabinet-rank official and President Aquino’s top aide in Mindanao.

Antonino said the rivers’ potential has generated so much interest among businessmen and business groups that want to invest in mini hydropower plants.

Among the rivers tagged as ideal for hydropower is the Calaon River in Maitum, Sarangani.

Each river with hydropower potential could generate only between 15-20 MW of electricity, “but with the extensive river system in Mindanao, there is a huge untapped potential of over 1,000 MW,” said Antonino, quoting a 2011 report on mini hydropower plants of the Department of Energy.

One-stop-shop

She said her agency, Minda, is pushing for a one-stop-shop processing center for businessmen or groups that would want to invest in mini hydropower plants.

The center, she said, would make the processing of papers needed by investors hassle-free and encourage investors to come in.

Antonino, however, acknowledged the need to keep the rivers healthy or revive some of them to make them viable sources of hydroelectricity.

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo said 63 percent of forest lands in Mindanao where key watersheds are located have been turned into farms and industrial or commercial sites. The diminishing size of watersheds as a result of land conversion could reduce the rivers’ potential as hydropower sources.

The bishop said watersheds that lost their tree canopies should be reforested quickly not only to keep rivers healthy as hydropower sources but also to help Mindanao cope with extreme weather conditions particularly dry spells.

Watersheds

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said the city government is taking the lead in forest protection by conducting a survey of 35,357 hectares of so-called environmentally critical areas in the city, the biggest in the country in terms of land area.

City officials said they needed to know where these environmentally critical areas are located in connection with the enforcement of the city’s Watershed Code of 2007, banning all forms of commercial activity in the city’s watersheds.

The code identified seven watersheds—Sibulan River, Sirawan River, Lipadas River, Talomo River, Tamugan River, Cugan Creek and Suawan River—as those where no commercial activity would be allowed but city officials are not sure of these areas’ boundaries. Germelina Lacorte and Ayan Mellejor, Inquirer Mindanao