See these news reports about this weird "more tricycles to save the planet" ADB loan.
“For the e-trike, I already cancelled the loan –
supposedly the funding for 100,000 e-trikes. But for the 3,000 units, since
bidding was done and units were already produced by the winning supplier, we’ll
go ahead with that – so the canceled loan portion should just be for the 97,000
units,” he explained.
The energy department, under the past administration, had
just been looking at a price point of R150,000 to R200,000 per e-trike, but
unfortunately, the cost subsequently swelled to R250,000 per unit.
From Malaya
‘ too expensive’ report,
Last February, Bemac Electric Transportation Philippines
Inc., a unit of Uzushio Electric Co. of Japan won the contract to build 3,000
electric trikes worth $30 million.
An e-trike costs $10,000 or P500,000 half of which is the
cost of battery.
Ordinary tricycles cost from as low as P60,000 for
second-hand units and upward from P150,000 for the better quality products.
The e-trike then costs three times more than the ordinary
tricycle.
In comparison, new branded vehicles used in ferrying
passengers start from P800,000 and they can be bought on instalment with low
rates.
From Malaya
‘scaled down’ report,
This time, the e-trike project would involve only 3,000
units of e-trikes from the original plan of
100,000 and the cost is significantly slashed from P21.672 billion to
P1.73 billion.
The e-trike project was part of the original $504 million
e-vehicle project plan jointly funded by the ADB, the Clean Technology Fund
(CTF) and the government as part of efforts to jumpstart the energy-efficient
electric vehicles industry in the country by producing 100,000 units of
electric vehicles.
From the $504
million, ADB was supposed to shoulder $300 million while CTF will provide $105
million and the remaining $99 million from the government.
From Philstar
report,
In an annual audit report recently published on its
website, the COA stated that as of Dec. 31, 2016, only P77,791,419.85 or 0.35
percent of the total project cost of P21.672 billion ($504 million) has been
disbursed.
Of this disbursed amount, only P14,398,023.17 was
allocated for project implementation activities, while P63,393,396.68 was for
the payment of commitment charges and interests incurred due to the project’s
delayed implementation.
The COA said the sustainability of the project is now “in
jeopardy” as the cost per unit of the e-trikes has already increased from
around P250,000 to currently around P455,000.
The COA pointed out that this would be “very costly for
the local tricycle drivers who will be required to pay the same over a period
of five years.”
In its reply letter, the DOE management informed the COA
that the National Economic and Development Authority Investment Coordination
Committee (NEDA-ICC) has approved the DOE’s request for the cancellation of at
least $359.76 million worth of ADB loans for the E-Trike Project.
DOE Sec. Al Cusi made a good decision in cancelling a big portion of this very lousy, very costly project. We have to pay the commitment fee and save us nearly P21 B.
At P455k per e-trike, one cannot even go safely from QC
to Las Pinas and back. If battery power runs out due to distance and traffic,
there is nowhere to charge for at least 3 hours. Better buy a 2nd-hand car,
good running condition with air-con, one can drive up to Baguio, Ilocos or
Bicol and back safely.
This $400-M e-trikes loan to help 'save the planet from
fossil fuel' is a stupid program. Its main function will only be to further
expand institutional robbery via loans-then-taxes of Filipino taxpayers.
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See also:
Foreign Aid 14: ADB's Electric Tricycles, April 07, 2012
Foreign Aid 17, ADB's costly e-tricycles loan, February 19, 2016
FAT-FREE ECONOMICS: Foreign aid, public debt andtricycles, April 12, 2012
Transport Econ 18, E-tricycles in Manila, October 11, 2016
Transport Econ 19, On taxi fare contracting, December 17, 2016
Transport Econ 20, On traffic and road sharing, January 20, 2017
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