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Dirty nozzle adds to power woes

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AS most of Manila struggled with power-cuts of up to eight hours yesterday, the Hopewell group shut down its new, 100-megawatt Navotas II power plant for the second time in its short life span to allow engineers to clean a fuel nozzle.

Mr Edgardo Bautista, president of Hopewell Energy Corp, said the problem, caused by debris collecting on a nozzle, was not unusual.

The shutdown is expected to last about four days.

Navotas II was the first of seven fast-track power projects commissioned by Philippine President Fidel Ramos.

It was inaugurated last month by Mr Ramos and Hopewell Holdings managing director Gordon Wu after being completed in a record 81/2 months.

Days before the inauguration, it had to be shut down for several hours because of a fuel delivery mix-up by National Power.

Because of breakdowns at several ageing power plants on Luzon Island, prolonged power-cuts have been forecast for the remainder of the week.

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