MOA for SRP's power supply up for talks

CEBU, Philippines – The proposed memorandum of agreement between the Cebu City government and the Visayan Electric Company for power distribution at the South Road Properties is up for discussion this week at the city council.

City administrator Francisco Fernandez said the MOA is already scheduled to be discussed during the council’s regular session this Wednesday.

According to the proposed agreement, VECO was chosen as the power provider of the 300-hectare facility because it still falls under its franchise area.

VECO holds a legislative franchise to construct, operate and maintain a distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to the end users in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay as well as the municipalities of Minglanilla, Naga, San Fernando, Consolacion, and Liloan, all in of the Province of Cebu.

Because of this, the power utility was designated as the distributor of electric power within the SRP, which is considered as an Eco-zone, provided that an access fee of 20 centavos for every kilowatt-hour produced is paid to the city.

VECO will arrange for the design, engineering supply and construction of an electric power distribution system at the SRP.

The city will require each locator at the SRP to execute an agreement to purchase of electricity from VECO at a rate to be authorized by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Fernandez said he cannot estimate for now the expected power demand at the SRP considering that locators are still to come in.

So far, only the Bigfoot Global Solutions Inc. and the Filinvest Land Inc. are the locators at the SRP.

Bigfoot has started its project in the area in the middle of 2007 and has paid the P25 million for its 25-year lease payment for a two- hectare lot for its expansion studio.

Meanwhile, FLI has just turned over a P348-million check to the city as down payment for the outright purchase of 10.6-hectare part of the SRP and is set to start its development in the next six months.

The utilities had to be in place to meet with the needs of the incoming locators, Fernandez said.

As for water, the unsolicited proposal of Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. is also expected to be tackled soon by the Joint Venture Selection Committee. —Ferliza C. Contratista/WAB (THE FREEMAN)