REMAI ALEJADO
ZamboSur PPB
Governor Aurora Cerilles is contemplating on establishing the province’s own hydropower plant to lessen its dependence in the National Power Corporation (NPC) as well as boost ZamboSur’s power supply.
Cerilles, who presided the 124th regular meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) last June 30, said such important project is in anticipation of the power generation crisis predicted to happen in 2010.
She said she was able to read a forecast by some experts which said that an energy crisis will most likely hit Mindanao.
This is why she anticipates making a 5-megawatt hydro power source at Lake Biswangan in Lakewood and for its realization; Cerilles said she will seek assistance from no less than President Gloria Arroyo.
July, last year, the Provincial Development Council passed a resolution requesting then Department of Energy (DOE) Sec. Raphael Lotilla to allocate P200-million for the proposed construction of the mini-hydro power plant in Lakewood.
However, the DOE responded unenthusiastically, which made the RDC refer it back to the project’s main proponent—the Provincial Government.
Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Affairs Ferdinand Mahusay suggested that a feasibility study should be done first and then endorsed it to the President.
“We should act fast and do something about it,” Cerilles stressed.
As this developed, Zamsureco-I general manager Jose Raul Saniel, private sector representative to RDC, vouched his support for the proposed project, saying Zamsureco-I is likewise pursuing its own 6-megawatt hydropower plant in Josefina.