Cobonpue: Cebu needs to invest more on power

CEBU, Philippines - Central Visayas Regional Development Council chair Kenneth Cobonpue yesterday said that Cebu has to invest more on power to make it more independent from relying on power sources from Leyte province.

"Definitely we have to invest more on power," Cobonpue told reporters in an interview at the sidelines of the RDC Advisory Committee Meeting on Friday.

He was sought for comment on the recent power interruptions experienced in Visayas provinces including Cebu following the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that hit Leyte province and other areas in Visayas including Bohol and Cebu on July 6.

Most of the major power plants in Visayas are located in Leyte, which are supplying the power needs of Cebu and Bohol.

The July 6 quake affected some power plants and transmission lines paralyzing the power supply in Leyte as well as in Cebu and Bohol.

Conbonpue cited power and water as key areas that should continuously be addressed by various stakeholders as far as their supply and reliability are concerned.

The RDC official also raised the need to invest into renewable energy particularly solar power.

"Since solar is erratic, we need to invest more storage facilities of solar power," he said.

Cobonpue mentioned the 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Toledo City of Aboitiz Power that is expected to come online by the end of this year.

He said this should help augment Cebu’s growing power demand.

IMPACT ON BUSINESS

In a separate interview yesterday, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Glenn Soco said the recent power interruptions have particularly affected the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) – which mostly have no generators such as small restaurants and small retail stores – in their daily operations.

"There are effects but these are very minimal in general sense," the businessman said.

"The sentiments of the businessmen are just temporary," Soco said.

The chamber official believes the Cebu business community has always managed to adapt and be resilient in situations like a power supply problem.

For her part, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Melanie Ng said the business sector has understood the current situation but called for faster resolution to the problem.

The early advisories of Visayan Electric Co. on rotational brownouts have also helped businesses come up with measures to lessen its impact on their operations.

While there may be business operations that have really been affected by the paralyzed power connection, Ng hoped that authorities and power companies will be able to fix the power woes as soon as possible.

She however said the none of the chamber's member companies have so far reported negative impact of the power outage. (FREEMAN)