Utang pala yun? $2.3 billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) Most expensive white elephant The single largest foreign debt (and most expensive white elephant) of the country was also contracted by Marcos-- the $2.3 billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). This lone project comprised 9 percent of the total foreign debt of the country when it was completed in 1984. Subsequent investigations showed that the BNPP was overpriced by $600 million, and that Marcos and his crony Herminio Desini, who facilitated the project, were bribed with $80 million by the project contractor US-based Westinghouse Corporation. The BNPP was mothballed by the Aquino administration after it found that the plant sits on a major fault line. It never got to produce a single kilowatt of electricity, but all the Aquino government can do was to accept a $188-million settlement with Westinghouse. Thus, Filipino taxpayers were left with a huge debt to settle. Starting this year until 2018, the country still has to pay around $118.3 million to the banks that financed the BNPP which include the US Export-Import Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland (among the Swiss banks where Marcos allegedly put his ill-gotten wealth), Bank of Tokyo, and Mitsui & Co. bulatlat/news/4-33/4-33-marcosdebt.html
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 16:11:44 +0000
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