MANILA, Philippines - The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the country’s transmission service provider, said yesterday that right-of-way (ROW) problems are affecting its field operations.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza identified various ROW violations that hamper the maintenance of NGCP’s transmission facilities.
“Common ROW violations we encounter are planting of trees within the ROW corridor, grass fires at or around our facilities, squatting and putting up of structures under our transmission lines, and kite flying. All of these activities can disrupt the transmission of power and cause power outages. More importantly, these activities damage our lines and compromise the safety of the public,” Alabanza said.
ROW issues have been a concern of the transmission business even before NGCP took over the operations and maintenance of the country’s transmission facilities in 2009, she also said.
For last year alone, the company encountered 44 outages or line-trippings caused by ROW violations nationwide.
Of the total number of incidents, 25 or more than half of the total, occurred in Mindanao alone.
Alabanza said these incidents stem from ROW violations, which also compound the problem by preventing NGCP workers from entering the area to fix damaged lines.
In addition to operational problems, the NGCP official also warned the public of the safety hazards for ROW violators.
Transmission lines are open lines that carry a minimum of 69,000 volts and a maximum of 500,000 volts. source
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