Power program to light up more brgys in Central Visayas this year

The National Electrification Administration said that more barangays in Central Visayas would be energized this year under the electrification program of the Arroyo administration.

From 2001, NEA said that 5,581 barangays were already energized in the electric cooperative areas, which translates to an average of three barangays energized in a day. It added that the government spends an average of P1.215 million per barangay for the project.

A total of 1,800 household connections cost the government P6.782 billion in loan and subsidy releases to the electric cooperatives through the NEA.

Yearly, there are about 1,116 barangays with 360,000 connections, or 93 barangays and 30,000 connections per month, resulting to three barangays and 1,000 connections per day.

Friday of last week, President Arroyo also led the ceremonial switch-on of the seven millionth household energized under her administration at the Cebu III Electric Cooperative, Inc. headquarters in Toledo City.

NEA said that on the 36th year of the rural electrification program, all the 1,451 towns and cities in the country covering 33,396 barangays have been electrified by the 119 electric cooperatives across the country under the supervision of the NEA.

To date, 22 provinces have already attained 100 percent barangay energization while energization level in the EC areas has reached 93 percent with the service connections at 64 percent.

Overall, energization level is at 94 percent and service connections at 73 percent, this already including the 26 private-investor-owned utilities/local government units.

It is expected that there would be more barangays to be energized this year because rural electrification is one of the top 10 priority agenda of President Arroyo. The project is expected to spur socio-economic development with the setting up of small and medium-scale livelihood projects with the availability of power in the countryside. - Wenna A. Berondo