Gov't to spend over P10B in 5 yrs to accelerate rural electrification

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is planning to spend more than P10 billion in the next five years to accelerate the Rural Electrification Program (REP), Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said.

Almendras told reporters on the sidelines of the Mid-Year Economic Managers Meeting yesterday that for this year alone, they have allocated P2.7 billion to provide electricity to sitios and barangays under the REP.

Of the P2.7 billion, Almendras said only P815 million had been utilized. But he pointed out that they would fasttrack the program to be able to use the entire allocation before the year ends.

By next year and up to 2017, he said they hope to spend about P2.5 billion for REP, of which P2 billion will be for electrification of sitios and P500 million or barangays.

With this budget, he said the government, through the National Electrification Administration and Department of Energy (DOE), will be able to reach its target of 90-percent household electrification.

But Almendras said if they would be able to accelerate the program to 2015, they may need to request for additional budget.

According to Almendras, the bigger budget allocation and faster efforts for rural electrification would facilitate economic growth in the countryside.

He noted that in the past, the budget for electrification in the far-flung areas was only P800 million.

“So if we could do more for rural electrification, we will be glad to do it,” he said.

 He said they would be deploying a multi-sectoral approach to accomplish their objective.

“We will be involving non-governmental organizations and all other concerned parties, including the House of Representatives,” he said.

As this developed, Almendras said they have not been fully utilizing the P8 billion fund which is allocated to finance efforts to secure vital oil drilling facilities in the Philippine seas, particularly the Malampaya oil rim in Northwest Palawan.

He said only about P500 million has been used up.