"We have pushed the schedule back because of some right-of-way problems," Transco president Alan T. Ortiz said.
The scheduled four-month shutdown was supposed to start last July 15. "We may be able to start it by July 30. A TRO (temporary restraining order) was issued but we expect the judge to take it back," he said.
Ortiz said they have sought the assistance of government lawyers on the matter. "We hope to resolve the issue soon and we hope to come up with a compromise agreement with the owner of the land that will be affected by the project," he said.
The Transco official said they will be able to meet the project’s targeted date of completion. "Despite late start, we will keep up with the Nov. 15 deadline," he said.
The line upgrading project, which will be jointly undertaken by Transco, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and National Power Corp. (Napocor) will minimize the use of expensive diesel plants like Malaya.
"Ultimately, unclogging this bottleneck will optimize the use of Malampaya gas by allowing the gas-fired plants of Sta. Rita, San Lorenzo and Ilijan to be dispatched at their minimum energy quantities (MEQ)," Ortiz said.
Based on the agreement, there will be a transfer of loads within the Meralco system, the shutdown of some of Transco’s transformers in case of overloading and the implementation of the special protection system (SPS) scheme which will entail the automatic isolation at one end of the Meralco line to prevent occurrence of brownouts.
Transco and Meralco will carry out the temporary shift of load of a Rockwell transformer from the south sector – which serves the areas of Urdaneta, Sucat, Sta. Rosa and Sta. Rita – to the north sector which covers Sta. Mesa, Araneta and Balintawak. The automatic tripping of the Zapote-BF-Parañaque 115-kv line will also be implemented to relieve overloading.