THE Department of Energy (DoE) wants the terms of the electric tricycle (e-tricycle) project to be revised to allow private sector participation after local governments proved reluctant to buy the vehicles because of their cost and the process involved in their acquisition.
DoE Assistant Secretary Leonido J. Pulido III said the department had asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to adjust the terms of the loan to revive the project, but significantly scaled down.
“The program was originally designed for the use of local government units (LGUs). But now, we are expanding it to make it available not only for the LGUs but also for the private sector,” he said in an interview.
After much delay, 3,000 e-trikes will be rolled out from the original 100,000 at a lower project cost of P1.73 billion from P21.672 billion. The funding was sourced by the past administration through a loan from the ADB.
Mr. Pulido earlier said the department had decided to go ahead with the project to showcase the potential use of clean and diversified energy technologies.
“When the new administration came in, the (Energy) secretary (Alfonso G. Cusi) took a look at the cost of the unit and the deployment model design, and he felt that we had to revise the deployment model,” he said.
“In order not to burden the government, we had to cancel the loan,” he added.
He said the previous deployment design for the project “was too challenging,” with the previous DoE leadership spending about a year trying to market the e-trikes but not selling a single unit.
He said the cost of each unit at P455,000 and the way the project was to be executed were “too onerous” for LGUs.
“We’re encouraging the private sector to come in and be part of the tricycle modernization program,” he said.
He said although the cost of the vehicle remains the same, the private sector can be more flexible in adopting a business model that can work.
Under the present deployment model, before an LGU can buy or take a loan from a bank to acquire an e-trike, it has to first use its internal revenue allotment as guarantee.
“Number two, it requires them to get a Monetary Board opinion,” he said, describing the process as “very challenging.”
“The revision to become effective requires a loan agreement amendment. DoE is not even a party to the loan agreement,” he said.
He said the Energy department had talked to the ADB to amend the loan terms as well as the Department of Finance, the government agency that forged the financing with the bank.
“They’re very supportive. They agree that it’s been very difficult,” he said. — Victor V. Saulon
