MANILA, Philippines — With it passing through around 82 barangays from Batangas to Manila stretch, the implementation of the proposed 105.3-kilometer gas pipeline is seen hobbled by tricky right-of-way (ROW) hurdles.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) acknowledged the “difficulty levels of ROW acquisition” and this is a serious concern it recommended to be tackled in the Batangas-Manila pipeline project implementation.

It added that there is a “need to move illegal people in the railways.” For all the communities that will be affected, it was propounded that the government and or the project-sponsors must “need to obtain endorsement from all municipalities.”

Beyond the ROW concerns, the other main points considered by JICA in its proposed gas pipeline route selection delve on: the current status and future plans of land utilization as well as those of buried or above ground facilities; applicable construction technique; and the current status and future plans of road, railway, bridges and rivers.

The design being considered would be for government to offer it under public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement or it can also be done as a purely private sector undertaking. The required investment for the pipeline will be $150 million to $170 million.

“Public-private partnership would facilitate the project implementation. The separation of asset-holding and operation can be an option for developing the market,” the study has recommended.

It was specified by JICA however that “ROW allocation, incentive or contractor’s mark-up and contingencies, are not included in the cost estimation of the pipeline EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) on 2011 study.”

According to the Department of Energy, if the project will be done with government’s participation, this may be channeled through a partnership with the state-run Philippine National Oil Company.

The anchor load for the pipeline’s construction will be industry end-users along the economic zones in Batangas and Laguna; as well as the 850-megawatt Sucat thermal power plant which has been proposed for repowering with fuel conversion to gas.

The study indicated though that “the gas conversion of Sucat power plant would be a future issue;” primarily on gas supply sourcing. “Malampaya gas would not be sufficient to supply the future demand for BatMan 1,” it added.

The alternative supply procurement propounded in the study “would be the import of LNG (liquefied natural gas)” which will then justify the need for the proposed construction of re-gas terminal somewhere in Batangas.