P4B earmarked for full nationwide electrification

The government and the private sector will invest around P4 billion to ensure full nationwide electrification by 2009.

“President Arroyo’s anti-poverty and rural development program will soon receive a big boost from the energy sector as government and its partners in rural electrification are set to invest nearly P4 billion over the next two years to ensure full electrification for the Filipino countryside before 2010,” National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said.

Mrs. Arroyo announced last August that the government aims to achieve 100-percent barangay electrification by 2009.

“The lack of access to electricity in some of the country’s poorest rural communities leads to limited job opportunities and low productivity among residents, which in turn serve to perpetuate poverty. That is why both President Arroyo and Secretary Angelo Reyes of the Department of Energy (DOE) are pressing for nationwide electrification before the decade ends,” Panganiban said.

He said the government, through the Expanded Rural Electrification Program of the DOE, has prepared a massive work and investment program designed to bring electricity to the remaining 1,894 rural barangays throughout the nation that still have no access to basic electrification services.

“This program will be jointly carried out and financed by government and its partner independent power producers,” Panganiban said.

He said the government estimates that the electrification of each targeted barangay would cost around P2 million. “So we can calculate the total cost of the program at around P3.8 billion,” he added.

He said the completion of the program will boost the income of the rural poor, encourage the development of small and micro-enterprises, and increase agricultural competitiveness.

“About two-thirds of the Filipino poor are rural folks and many of them are farmers. With access to electricity, these farmers can extend their working hours, improve their post-production activities and even venture into processing,” Panganiban noted.

He said around 555 of the program’s intended beneficiary barangays are in Luzon while another 338 are situated in the rural areas of the Visayas.