Southern Tagalog businessmen cite power projects

CALAMBA CITY– Business community and government leaders of Southern Tagalog lauded yesterday the Arroyo government’s determined bid to upgrade the reliability and efficiency of the region’s supply of electricity.

In a meeting with energy officials in Laguna led by National Transmission Corp. (Transco) president Alan T. Ortiz, the local leaders said the power sector initiatives "support our bid to entice new investors into the region and for existing businesses to expand." The region is one of the country’s high-growth areas.

Eduardo Nicolas, president of the Laguna Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said the projects "will definitely attract more industries in the region thereby creating more jobs." The chamber is the umbrella organization of Laguna’s biggest business groups.

Nicolas underscored that reliable power supply "is the very lifeline of our business."

The local leaders cited in particular Transco’s P217-million Biñan-Dasmarinas transmission line upgrading project and the P3.5-billion Batangas transmission reinforcement project.

Ortiz said both will strengthen the existing transmission networks’ southern corridor for more efficient transmission of power from various independent power producers in the region.

He added that these would "provide more opportunity business windows and flexibility for the power generation sector."

These will also reduce pollution in the region due to the reduction of capacity reserves and the optimization of clean-burning natural gas-fired power plants, he added.

Ortiz also announced several medium-term power initiatives for the region, including the P269.69-million Biñan-Sucat 230Kv line upgrade, the P3.8-billion Luzon substation expansion project and the P2-billion Luzon-Mindoro interconnection project proposed to be funded under the Asian Development Bank structured finance.

The energy officials are also set to meet with business leaders of Quezon and Cavite provinces.