TOKYO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won pledges from Japan of help with fighting terrorism and assistance in building the country’s crumbling infrastructure, as he met with Japan’s prime minister on Monday during a visit to Tokyo.
Japan promised its support in the reconstruction of the strife-torn southern Philippine city of Marawi. A military campaign recently ended a five-month siege of the city by Daesh group-aligned militants that left more than 1,100 combatants and civilians dead.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the liberation of Marawi and gave credit to Duterte’s leadership.
“I express my heartfelt respect for President Duterte’s leadership on the recent declaration of liberation in Marawi,” Abe said. “We will provide full support for (the Philippines’) counterterrorism effort and steps to ensure peace and stability” in the region.
The two leaders also agreed to cooperate on various projects, including a subway system for metropolitan Manila, the traffic-jammed capital, energy development, maritime safety and the Philippines’ fight against drugs and drug trafficking. The two sides are now laying out project details under a 1 trillion yen ($9 billion) assistance package spanning five years that Japan had pledged earlier this year.
Duterte said he chose Japan as the destination of his first official overseas trip after Marawi’s liberation.
“The true friend of us stood squarely behind the Philippines in my country’s onward advance at greater peace, progress and prosperity,” Duterte said.
He praised Japan for its support and thanked Abe for his pledge of help in rebuilding Marawi and the surrounding region “in a timely manner.”
The siege in the southern Philippines displaced some 400,000 residents, including the entire population of Marawi, a bastion of the Islamic faith in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines. Military airstrikes, artillery and heavy machine-gun fire turned the lakeside city’s central business district and outlying communities into a smoldering wasteland of disfigured buildings and bullet-pocked mosques and houses.
The assistance from Tokyo also includes 15.9 billion yen ($140 million) in low-interest financing for a water management project in the Philippines’ flood-prone Cavite province, and another 100 billion yen ($880 million) for the Manila subway, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Japan is also providing patrol boats and speed boats for the Philippine coast guard and financing training programs to step up its security capacity in the region.
Before leaving the Philippines for Tokyo late Sunday, Duterte said he hoped to discuss concerns over North Korea with Abe and declared that someone should talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, reassure him that nobody is out to remove him or destroy his country, and ask him to stop threatening attacks.
“You must remember that he is a leader of his people,” Duterte said, adding that “whatever he proclaims himself to be, somebody has got to talk to him.”
“So, if somebody could just reach out, talk to him and say, ‘My friend, why don’t you just join me in the table and we’ll just talk about these things?’” Duterte told reporters in the southern Philippine city of Davao. “Nobody’s talking to him.”
Duterte echoed US President Donald Trump in saying he believes China has the greatest leverage with Pyongyang, a longtime Beijing ally. And he expressed concern over the potential for dangerous missteps in the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear program.
“We are worried, all of us, that you know, Murphy’s Law, ‘If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.’“
On Monday, Duterte condemned North Korea for threatening peace and stability in the region with its repeated missile launches, urging Pyongyang and other involved parties to return to negotiations to resolve the problem.
Apart from his talks with government officials in Tokyo, Duterte met with Japanese business leaders earlier Monday and will have an audience with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko before heading home Tuesday. He told reporters that he wants to express his respect for Akihito and thank him for his visit to the Philippines last year.
Japan offers Duterte aid for rebuilding, fighting terrorism
Japan offers Duterte aid for rebuilding, fighting terrorism
Modi’s rooftop solar push slowed by reluctant lenders, states
- The shortfalls represent the latest challenge to India’s efforts to nearly double clean energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030
SINGAPORE/MUMBAI/BHUBANESWAR, India: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to accelerate the rollout of rooftop solar power is falling short of targets despite heavy subsidies due to loan delays and limited support from state utilities, vendors and analysts say.
The shortfalls represent the latest challenge to India’s efforts to nearly double clean energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030, and come as the government plans to suspend clean energy tendering targets amid a mounting backlog of awarded projects yet to be built.
Challenges to plans to increase solar uptake may mean India maintains its reliance on coal-fired power.
India’s Ministry for New and Renewable Energy created its subsidy program for residential solar panel installations in February 2024, covering up to 40 percent of the costs.
But residential installations at 2.36 million are well below the ministry’s target of 4 million by March, according to data from the program’s website.
“Banks’ reluctance to lend and states’ hesitance to promote the schemes could derail India’s efforts to transition away from coal,” said Shreya Jai, the lead energy analyst at research firm Climate Trends in New Delhi.
Roughly three in five rooftop solar applications filed on the scheme’s website are yet to be approved while about 7 percent have been rejected, according to government data on the program, known as the PM Surya Ghar.
In a statement to Reuters about the pending applications, the renewable energy ministry pointed to accelerating installations which have benefited over 3 million households, and said the scheme enables state-owned utilities to reduce subsidy payouts to keep residential power bills in check.
“The loan rejection rate varies across states,” the statement said.
Under PM Surya Ghar, consumers apply and select a vendor who handles paperwork and arranges bank financing for solar panels. After loan approval and installation, the vendor submits proof, after which the government subsidy is credited to the bank.
BANK DELAYS
However, banks have been rejecting or delaying loans for numerous reasons including lack of documentation, which they say is necessary to protect public funds.
“We are working with the government to push for some standard documentation, because it is necessary to avoid bad loans. Currently if loans go bad, banks can take away these panels but what will we do with these panels?” said a senior official at a major government-owned bank.
Chamrulal Mishra, a solar vendor in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, said applications are often rejected because the customer has missed electricity payments or because land records are still in the name of deceased relatives.
Residents there dispute the claims that they have missed payments, which they attribute to administrative errors after a change in utility ownership decades prior.
A spokesperson for India’s Department of Financial Services, which regulates the country’s banks, said they have responded to consumer feedback to allow co-applicants for loans to clear up title claims and the simplification of documentation requirements.
The Renewable Energy Association of Rajasthan said some banks are making collateral demands for loans under 200,000 Indian rupees ($2,208.87), despite scheme guidelines not requiring them to, which is constraining solar power additions.
State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, some of the country’s largest lenders, did not reply to requests for comment on the matter.
State-owned utilities are also not promoting rooftop solar as much, as they are concerned about the loss of revenue as sales move off the electric grid.
“Wealthier households typically have high electricity consumption, tariffs and reliable roof access. When they shift from the grid, it leaves a larger financial burden,” said Niteesh Shanbog, an analyst at Rystad Energy.
