wiredinUSA February 2020

Funding power

Growing the domestic product

Photo by Kees Streefkerk on Unsplash The Sahofika hydro-power project in Madagascar, designed to provide an additional 205MW of renewable energy, has received funding from the African Development Bank in line with the bank’s “Light Up and Power Africa” program. The bank’s support will include risk mitigation to the project developers and debt providers by supporting the payment obligations of Jirama, the state-owned utility. The Sahofika project is located on the Onive river, south of the country’s capital, Antananarivo. It will involve the design, construction and operation of a 205MW hydro-electric power plant, the construction of a 110km transmission line to the site, and construction of camp facilities and 112km of access roads. The project will generate 1,570GWh of renewable power annually and will enable Madagascar to displace up to 90 percent of its thermal energy generation.

Image: SteelAsia

Benjamin Yao, chairman and chief executive of SteelAsia Manufacturing, has said: “The Philippines is the only southeast Asian country that does not produce its steel requirements,” but he hopes that a strong local steel industry will enable the Philippines to catch up with its industrial neighbors. SteelAsia plans to diversify its production from reinforcing bars and construction steel to wire rod, steel beams for bridges, sheet piles for ports, and heavy angles for transmission towers. SteelAsia operates six community mills around the Philippines and is building more to supply the construction sector with rebar. Yao believes steel is “the mother of all manufacturing” that creates jobs and lifts the whole economy; he says steel has played a crucial role in the industrialization of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China. Last September, SteelAsia signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s HBIS Group to develop the first integrated iron and steel facility in Batangas province, to elevate the domestic steel industry and reduce dependence on imports.

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wiredInUSA - February 2020