The
SRPI wants to be sure that Zamcelco will be “viable” following its enhancement
project and thus will be able to pay back part of the money invested in the
plant by way of payment of power bills from energy generated in the plant.
Once
operational, the SRPI will be 80%
dependent on the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) for its income
and recover its investment of P12 billion in the Coal Fired Power plant to be
established at the Economic Zone and
Free Port Authority or Ecozone .
This
status of the project came to light during a dialogue held Tuesday at the City
Council where officials of the SRPI and Zamcelco‘s General Manager were
invited to shed light on the matter.
The
city council wanted to find out when SRPI will start work on the project.
Joseph Nocuz of
SRPI cannot give any exact date as to when they are going to start the project
pending Zamcelco’s implementation of its enhancement project.
This
enhancement project to cost some 900 million will include repair of power
lines, connections, transformers and other electrical equipment of the
cooperative.
The
tentative date for the enhancement project is said to be March 2015.
Nocuz
said that this enhancement program is to ensure the long term viability of
their investment wherein the recovery is about 80 % dependent on
Zamcelco’s ability to pay its bills.
On
record, Nocuz said that Zamcelco needs about P 900 million bigger than
what was earlier predicted by Zamcelco at P 700 million.
On
the other hand Zamcelco General Manager George Ledesma does not agree on
the P900 million enhancement cost.
To
accept this figure would mean that mean that Zamcelco is not doing anything to
enhance its viability.
“I
don’t agree-accept the P900 million .It would mean we are not
doing anything, “ Ledesma said .
Moreover,
aside from the availability of Zamcelco to pay its bill , there is
another problem over the 32 hectare site that will be used to construct
the power plant.
The
Department of Agrarian Reform and the Zamboanga Ecozone cannot agree on the
status of the area to be used for the project.
Ecozone
Chairman Christopher Arnuco said that all lands in the Ecozone are
automatically converted from agricultural to industrial use.
On
the other hand, the DAR said that conversion of the area for use of RCPI must
pass through the process of conversion from agricultural to industrial.
“We are Ecozone tenants. We rely on Ecozone, “
Nocuz said saying that the two government agencies rely on conflicting with laws.
DAR
can say that SRPI will violate the
Agrarian Reform Law if it sets up its (industrial) facility on
land that is still classified as agricultural.
Arnuco
said that under the Ecozone Charter R.A. No. 7903 that there is no need to convert the
lot from Agricultural to Industrial as they have the
authority to declare the area from Agricultural to Industrial
However,
Nocuz said that it is a matter of compliance with DAR.
As
this developed, there is no clear result as to when
SRPI will implement the Coal Fired Power Plant at Ecozone .
At the same time, the business sector is
complaining about their extra operating cost incurred with the reimposition of
blackouts in the city.
The President of the Zamboanga City Chamber of
Commerce Edwin To told the city council
that they have to operate generators during blackout.
A certain hospital that use to spend an average of
P800,000 a month in electric bills must now spend over a million , because the
generators must also be operated to provide electricity during blackouts. (Letty M. Militante) (110714)
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