Negros seeks power barge as stop-gap measure on brownouts
By Carla Gomez
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 16:17:00 05/11/2008
BACOLOD CITY, Philippines -- Governor Isidro Zayco will ask President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the use of a power barge from Mindanao as a short-term solution to the frequent brownouts in Negros Occidental.
Zayco informed the President in a letter Friday that the acute power shortage in Negros Occidental has been affecting government operation and business activities in the province.
The brownouts have disrupted operations of government agencies, including the New Bacolod Silay Airport and equipment of the National Bureau of Investigation for processing clearances, especially of overseas Filipino workers, causing province-wide complaints, according to Zayco.
Zayco appealed to the President to direct the concerned national agency to send a power barge to Negros Occidental, one that could have a capacity of 30 megawatts, to address the brownout problems.
"We were informed that there may be available power barges in Mindanao owned by the government or private companies that are more than willing to provide the needed additional power supply," Zayco said in his letter.
Zayco said he sent his letter to the President through Secretary Cerge Remonde of the Presidential Management Staff, who was in Bacolod on Thursday and Friday.
Zayco told reporters here that a draft memorandum of agreement was signed by the province of Negros Occidental and Alto Power Management Corp. for the conduct of a preliminary study to determine the technical and economic feasibility of developing a hydroelectric power plant along the upper Bago River in Bago City.
Under the draft MOA, the provincial government grants Alto Power the right to conduct a study at its own cost for a period of 180 days.
The study would also ultimately benefit the provincial government's planned irrigation highway project because the hydro-electric plant to be set up under a Build Operate and Own scheme would have an irrigation component, Zayco said.
The MOA provides that Alto will ensure the protection of the environment, to include a reforestation project.
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