The Alliance of Concerned Consumers in Electricity and Social Services (ACCESS) is set to file a formal request with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City, demanding full disclosure of corporate and project documents related to Forza Development Corp. (FDC), the private firm tapped for the P4-billion Waste-To-Energy project in Barangay Felisa, Bacolod City.
According to a press release, ACCESS president Wennie Sancho said consumers have the right to know who they are dealing with before public land is leased for 25 years, and before any power supply agreement affecting electricity bills is signed. ACCESS is asking: Who is Forza Development Corporation?
“The City Council authorized the Mayor to sign a P4-billion deal last April 29. But who is Forza Development Corporation? What is their track record in waste-to energy projects? Who sits on the Board? Where is the P4-Billion coming from?” he asked.
ACCESS is filing this request because as of May 5, there is no public track record of FDC having completed any large-scale WTE plant in the Philippines. The Bacolod project is being called “the first probably in the country,” Sancho said.
The P4-billion public asset is at stake. The deal involves a 25-year lease of city-owned land at the Bacolod Integrated Recycling and Technological Hub for only P1,000,010 per year, the public must know if it is fair. ACCESS is concerned of the impact on the power bills. If the WTE plant sells electricity to Negros Power, it will affect the generation charge in every consumers’ bill. ACCESS wants to see the draft PSA. Will it be P6/kWh as promised or will the consumers be forced to buy expensive power again? he added.
Sancho said there is a lack of beneficial ownership disclosure. FDC’s board of directors, stockholders and technical partners have not been disclosed in SP sessions or news reports. Hidden owners might mean hidden agendas, he said.
There should be no signing of the P4-billion deal with FDC until full disclosure. Mayor Greg Gasataya should not sign the lease until FDC’s track record and funding are made public and vetted by the Department of Energy (DOE). There should be public hearings in Bacolod City before any PSA is approved. Present the real cost per kWh to households, Sancho said.
Any WTE power must be cheaper than the current WESM rate of P15-P17/kWh, if not, the project is useless to the suffering consumers. Above all, there must be a transparency clause. The consumers had already learned their lesson on the JVA between BACIWA and Prime Water that was done surreptitiously without public hearing or consultation. All WTE deals or public contracts must require automatic disclosure of beneficial owners, following DILG’s transparency rules, he added.*
