Boracay now has ample power supply - Perez

BORACAY ISLAND – Energy Secretary Vicent S. Perez announced yesterday the completion of the rehabilitation of the power distribution lines here, saying this would enable the world-famous beach resort to meet the growing demand for electricity as the Christmas season nears.

"We are very pleased to announce that the rehabilitation works on the electric distribution system in Boracay has been completed. In seven days and nights, these linemen and engineers offered their services for free to help improve this basic service. Again, the commendable spirit of volunteerism and cooperation among the cooperatives has helped us achieve this," Perez said.

The rehabilitation work forms part of the overall comprehensive development program ordered by President Arroyo to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the NEA to improve the electricity service in this island resort.

Perez said the project would also provide residents of Aklan with sufficient and reliable power supply.

The rehabilitation of the distribution lines complements two bigger transmission projects on the pipeline.

The National Transmission Co. (Transco) and the Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco) are expected to complete the building of a P100-million, 69 kilovolt (kV), transmission line from Nabas to Caticlan by the end of this month or early October ahead of its original completion target of 2003. The project is expected to meet Boracay’s power requirement for the next 15 years.

Another project of Transco is to build submarine cables to link the Caticlan substation to Boracay island. The $4-million to $5-million (approximately P200-million to P250-million) project, to be funded by the World Bank, will be set for bidding soon.

Under the agreed joint effort, Transco will undertake the construction of the 35 kilometer power line with manpower support from Akelco.

For its part, the National Electrification Administration (NEA), through its Task Force Kapatid, has worked out the fasttracking of the construction of distribution lines from the Caticlan substation to Taban, which will serve as the take-off point of the Caticlan-Boracay submarine cable, as well as the installation of the seven kilometer of three-phase lines and 10 kilometers of single-phase lines that would improve the quality of electricity and minimize fluctuations in the whole island.

NEA’s Task Force Kapatid is composed of 184 volunteer engineers and linemen from 25 different electric cooperatives in the Visayas region.

As this developed, Perez said Napocor has moved to Iloilo City last month one of its unused power barges, 32-megawatt (MW) PB 104, to begin supplying electricity to the whole Panay grid serving the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Iloilo.

Boracay has suffered from frequent power fluctuations and interruptions due to insufficient power supply, technical constraints in the transmission and distribution systems as well as mismanagement in the operations of the Akelco.

It will be recalled that early this year a three-day brownout hit this island after Napocor cut off its power supply to Akelco due to non-payment of debts. Power was restored on March 20 after a team from NEA took over the operations of electric cooperative.