Marcos: Let’s Pay $155,000/day for the Bataan Nuclear Plant!

Posted on April 27th, 2008. Written by Rico.

An article written in 2004 noted that Filipino taxpayers were paying $155,000 a day for the infamous Bataan Nuclear Plant. It lamented the fact that while the power plant never produced electricity, the Philippines was still paying interest for a never-completed project that’s now 34 years old.

The US Dollar was worth 56 Philippine pesos back in 2004, making $155,000 equal to P8,680,000 (ouch!). Last Friday the rate was P42.09 to the dollar, making the daily payment worth P6,523,950. If we’re still paying for the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, then that’s over P2 million off our fiduciary backs. The stronger Philippine Peso comes to our rescue again!

But more importantly, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant proves that good planning always beats bad planning. As the article goes:

The Bataan nuclear power plant was a knee jerk reaction by former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos to the energy crisis of the early 1970s… Construction began in 1976 and was completed in 1984 at a cost of 2.3 billion dollars…

In early 1986 a team of international inspectors visited the site and declared it unsafe and inoperable as it was built near major earthquake fault lines and near the Pinatubo volcano which at the time was dormant.

Debt repayment on the plant is the country’s biggest single obligation.

Isn’t it amazing how the screw-ups of the past continue to haunt the present? If and when we manage to recover the money Marcos stole while in power, we can use it to pay off this debt (if it’s still pending of course)!

Consider this: even if we finally get the Bataan Power Plant up-and-running, it’s ability to produce 621 Megawatts of electricity will be of little help to a region (Luzon) that requires over 12,000.

(energybulletin.net, ezinearticles.com)