Veco to move messy wires underground

With elections over, the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) is set to implement its P50-million underground cabling system project from the Capitol to Fuente Osmeña.
Overhead power lines will be transferred below street level.
The project will be rolled out before the year ends, said Jaime Jose Y. Aboitiz, executive vice president of Aboitiz Equity Ventures and chief operations officer of the Power Distribution Group.
The project is in line with the Cebu City government’s beautification campaign. After the initial Capitol – Fuente segment, Veco hopes to replicate the project in other major thoroughfares in the city.
The change would remove unsightly wires in Veco posts that are also used by telecommunications companies.
“If we duplicate this, we are looking at an investment of P150 million to P250 million a year. Hopefully we will be collaborating with other utilities like telecommunication companies for this project,” said Aboitiz in an interview this week.
In November last year, Veco joined efforts with telecommunication companies for the project “Sugbu Matahum: Redefining the Streets of Cebu” to clear pavements and sidewalks of unsightly and redundant clusters of utility poles.
The 3-year project (2012 to 2014) will start along the Sinulog parade’s main route covering Osmeña Boulevard corner P. del Rosario Street to Plaza Independencia and will move to other major roads.
Veco will also be starting its prepaid meter and smart metering projects within two months, said Aboitiz.
The result in pilot areas will determine its market acceptability and feasibility.
Veco’s franchise area covers San Fernando in the south to Liloan in the north, serving over 340,000 clients.