CALASIAO–A plan to install solar panels on top of the new municipal hall here to generate energy has been shelved after the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) backed out of its earlier commitment reportedly to bankroll the project.

Municipal Administrator Vivencio Vallo said under the original plan, JICA was supposed to finance the installation of the solar panels with some counterpart from the municipal government, but the agency has now put forward a different grant arrangement.

Vallo said a representative of JICA recently visited them and asserted that the municipality should now secure a loan with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to fully finance the project.

For its part, JICA will just conduct a study for the solar panels to determine the cost needed for the project.

“We don’t need them”, Vallo stressed, referring to JICA. “If that is the plan we can negotiate ourselves with the bank. So what is the role of JICA in that project?” he added.

The Calasiao government, however, cannot afford an additional loan at this point after having secured credit for the construction of a new municipal hall to replace the old one that was razed down by a fire, Vallo pointed out.

The installation of solar panels is intended as a means for the town to save on energy costs.

Vallo said the project will still be in the municipality’s list of priorities and they will aim to get a grant from other sources.–Roselle P. Gale, Colegio de Dagupan

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