SEOUL, KOREA - Korea Water Resources Corp. will operate a hydroelectric dam in the Philippines after taking equity shares in it. This is the first instance for the state-run water management company to run an overseas dam. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation and Korea Water said on October 30 that they will hold an opening ceremony on the 31st and begin operations of the Angak water reservoir embankment dam.

 

Located 60 kilometers northeast of the nation's capital Manila, the multi-purpose dam has an electric power generation capacity of 218 megawatts and satisfies 98 percent of tap water needs for the city. Earlier in 2010, Korea Water had participated in a bidding to acquire a controlling stake in the dam project at the cost of US$441 million.

 

Since the opening of the electricity generation market to foreign operators in 2002, the Philippines has become a home to several international power companies such as Japan's Marubeni and Norway's SN Power, as well as Korea Electric Power Corp.

 

Immediately after the opening ceremony, the Korean company will hand over a 60-percent stake in the project to San Miguel Corp., the Philippines' largest company. From this transaction, Korea Water will get a profit of about $30 million. In addition, it will be able to earn an average of $12 million a year for the next 50 years in the form of dividend income.

 

Song Seok-joon, director with the infrastructure ministry, said, "The operation of Angat Dam by Korea Water is a meaningful milestone in that a Korean company has entered the market for high value-added invest-develop-and-operate projects."

 

Article provided by The Korea Economic daily