Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
Power utilities,
primarily the country’s electric cooperatives, are seeking one-year extension
on clearing of their facilities that will be traversed by the government’s
infrastructure projects.
This is a modification
that the ECs have been batting for in the joint Circular signed last year by
the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Public Works and Highways
(DPWH), the key government agency overseeing the State’s infrastructure
development platform.
From the issuance of
the joint circular last year, the ECs would have been given one year “to cause
the removal and relocation of any improperly located facility in the
government’s right of way (ROW),” or the so-called obstructing facilities to
government projects.
A policy has similarly
been institutionalized by the two relevant government agencies on the
compensation and payment scheme for power facilities that shall be affected by
state-sanctioned infrastructure projects.
Nevertheless, at the
lapse of the prescribed one-year clearing period, many ECs had informed the DOE
that they were not able to comply yet “due to natural calamities being
experienced by them,” with the power utilities noting that their priority had
been refocused on the repair and rehabilitation of their damaged facilities.
That then prompted the
concerned power utilities to seek for one-year extension to comply with the
mandate on addressing ROW issues relative to government projects – which may
come in the form of road widening, bridge construction or any other development
paradigm.
In the original
circular, it was fleshed out that a “unified scheme” be enforced on
compensation to power facilities, including that of the electric cooperatives –
chiefly for their facilities that shall be moved to other sites relative to
construction undertakings on government projects.
As stipulated in that
edict, the government agency that shall be implementing a public works project
shall coordinate with the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the
electric cooperatives “to address the right-of-way concerns related to the
affected facility, including claims for compensation and determination of
relocation sites.”
Further, the circular
provides “an appropriate formula in the determination of proper compensation to
the electric cooperative for the cost of the removal of affected facility.”
Often, in the State’s
infrastructure build-up agenda, some electric power facilities are getting
affected in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment