some regional news

Let me share with you two reports on the delayed 138kv transmission line project. I got these from the Leyte-Samar Daily Express.

Delayed electric transmission system project in Samar Island to be pushed through by NGCP
By: Ahlette C. Reyes (This report appears in today's edition of the LSDE)

TACLOBAN CITY – The 138 KV backbone transmission system to span the northern part of the Samar Island would push through – after some encountered hitches over the years, Regional Development Council-8 Chairman, Calbayog City Mel Senen Sarmiento.

The 138 KV Wright-Calbayog Transmission Project is reportedly pushing through with the opening of the bid soon as informed by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines in a letter to the RDC last month.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is the privately-owned corporation that won the competitive public bidding in December 2007 which was granted by Congress a 50-year franchise as official operator of the formerly government-owned and controlled National Transmission Corporation to operate and maintain the country’s power transmission grid.

According to Mayor Sarmiento, the change of hands in the official operation of the country’s transmission grid was also among the hitches considered as the cause of delay of the project.

“If we may remember when President Arroyo last visited the region, she particularly ordered to complete the construction of the Paranas-Calbayog 138 KV Trasmisison Line,” Mayor Sarmiento said in an interview during the recent RDC-8 Council meeting at the NEDA Regional Office Conference Hall.

NGCP’s Assistant Chief Technical Officer Lu Shirong said in his letter addressed to Mayor Sarmiento that since NGCP is a private consortium, it will not adopt the Government Procurement Act (RA 9184) in the procurement of goods and services necessary to implement the project. They will instead, adopt its own procurement guidelines which, Shirong said in his letter, “is more responsive in addressing the needs of the country’s power networks.

Under NGCP, it was learned that the target of submission for the project proposals by NGCP-accredited suppliers will be in the period of February 28 to April 28, 2009.

The actual construction up to the energization will be on July this year to September 2010.

The extension of the 138 kV backbone transmission systems towards the northern part of Samar Island, one of the priority projects of the RDC-8 started during the RDC chairmanship of then Gov. Remedios Petilla, is aimed at intensifying the delivery of quality and reliable power threat.

Presently, power transmission to Northern Samar is through the 69 kV wood pole lines that are susceptible to frequent power interruption and undervoltage.

With this development project, the power consumers in Northern Samar and nearby localities will benefit from quality and stable power supply which will serve as catalyst to jumpstart their economic progress which have been hampered through the years, primarily due to underdeveloped basic infrastructures including electricity.

This project is likewise considered as a commitment to comply with the requirements set by the National Grid Code as promulgated by the Energy Regulation Commission. (AHLETTE C. REYES)

And here's the report of Sarwell Meniano which appeared in yesterday's edition of the LSDE:

NGCP to construct P1.26B 138 kV transmission line in Samar
By: Sarwell Meniano

PALO, Leyte -The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) vowed to pursue the construction of the P1.26 billion Paranas-Calbayog 138 kV transmission project on July 2009 after the firm took over the management of the country’s electric transmission.

NGCP engineering assistant chief technical officer Lu Shirong said in a letter to Calbayog City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento that it will take time to kick off the project considering that the new owner will no longer adopt the Government Procurement Reform Act.

“As the winning concessionaire that took over on 15 January 2009 the operation and maintenance including the expansion of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao Grids, NGCP shall definitely pursue the implementation of the project,” Shirong said in the letter dated February 6, 2009.

However, the owner will apply the company’s purchase system which they believed as “more responsive in addressing the needs of the country’s power networks.”

Based on the revised timetable, the target submission of project proposals by NGCP-accredited suppliers will be on February 28 to April 28, 2009, while construction and energization will be on July 18, 2009 to September 15, 2010.

In a letter last month to Malacañang, Sarmiento appealed that the bidding for the said project be opened to stabilize the power supply distribution in Samar Island, “which has serious ramification to the welfare and day-to-day livelihood of constituents.”

The said request was endorsed by National Transmission Corporation President Arthur Aguilar to NGCP President and Chief Executive Officer Walter Brown.

It can be recalled that on December 1, 2008, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the bill allowing the NGCP to operate, manage, and expand the country’s high voltage power grid for 50 years. The corporation is a consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., Calaca High Power Corp., and State Grid Corp. of China.

“I’m happy that this will be pushed through because we’ve been waiting for this for five years. There are steel towers in Samar but those are for Metro Manila. The region’s power transmission uses old wooden poles even if we are the host of geothermal power,” Sarmiento said in an interview.

Currently, power transmission to Northern Samar is through the 69 kV wood pole lines that are susceptible to frequent power interruption and “undervoltage.”

“How can we improve the economy in Samar Island if there are power failures that occur three days in one week?” Sarmiento asked.

The upgraded transmission lines will increase the power transfer capacity by installing 138 KV overhead transmission line together with a run of 24-count fiber optic cable overhead ground wire which would serve as the main communication medium of the link.

The substation in Wright, Samar will be expanded and a new Calbayog substation will be constructed as a receiving end substation.

From the new Calbayog substation, power will be transmitted to Northern Samar through the existing Calbayog-Lope de Vega lines and the proposed Calbayog-Allen lines.

The project which was designed to curb the long problem of frequent power outages in the northern part of Samar Island was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) in 2005. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO)