By HENRY EMPEÑO | Subic Bay Freeport

THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has revoked the contract for the development of a $798-M solar farm and industrial city project at the Redondo Peninsula here after the proponent failed to deliver on its commitments under the agreement.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the Subic agency has temporarily set aside the development program for the area and opted instead to create a master plan for the entire Redondo Peninsula before opening it up again to investors.

“We’re basically back to square one,” Eisma said in a statement announcing the collapse of the agreement.

She added that the agency is still open to receiving proposals, provided these would be “consistent with the SBMA’s objective of developing Redondo into an industrial and maritime hub.”

Eisma said the SBMA Board of Directors had earlier revoked the lease and development agreement (LDA) with Dynamic Konstruk International Eco Builders Corp. (DKIEBC) as it invoked an automatic revocation clause under the agreement in case the proponent did not meet its obligations.

She said DKIEBC failed to deliver the required advance rentals and security deposit despite several extensions given by the SBMA.

This left the Subic agency with no other recourse but to revoke the contract, Eisma said.

Dynamic Konstruk initially proposed in May 2016 to develop 982 hectares of land at the Redondo area for what it called the “Redondo 200MW Solar Farm and Eco Dynamic Industrial City”.

Out of the $798-million investment commitment, the DKIEBC was supposed to spend about $300 million for the 402-hectare solar farm, which was designed to produce 200 megawatts of green energy to primarily supply the proposed 580-hectare industrial city.

The industrial city project, meanwhile, would have included commercial buildings, factories, warehouses, utilities for water and electricity, fire and law enforcement facilities, and sanitation and landfill facilities.

However, during negotiations for the project’s 50-year lease, it became apparent that DKIEBC, a certified “A” PCAB licensee, as well as its partners, lacked adequate experience in solar power generation and appeared not to have enough funding to back up its US$798-million investment commitment.

Eisma said the SBMA Board thus required DKIEBC to put up P2.2-billion in paid-up capital, but the firm offered to pay upfront the amount of P472 million, or about 50 percent of its required rental and security deposits.

“When DKIEBC also failed to honor this commitment, the project was considered revoked pursuant to a resolution of the SBMA Board,” Eisma added.

The SBMA official said that they already stopped dealing with the DKIEBC and had also warned the public on reports that some parties are still seeking investors to fund the project despite official revocation by the agency.

“This is already a closed issue,” Eisma said. “Anybody seeking funds for the Redondo industrial city and solar farm project is probably doing some scam operation, so we urge everyone to beware.”