Mindanao firms urged to invest in power gens

MANILA, Philippines - Tourism establishments in Mindanao should invest more in diesel-fired generators to cope with the frequent power outages in the island, a top tourism official said.

Tourism assistant secretary Arturo Boncato Jr., in an interview with The STAR, said the up to 15-hour rotational brownouts partly caused by the lower output from hydroelectric power facilities are definitely hurting businesses in the province, including tourism establishments.

 â€œWe are coping. We are making sure that the conveniences of our travelers are not really hampered. Most of them, if not all, are also investing more in ensuring that they have support facilities like generators,” Boncato said.

In Davao, he said it is peak season for mid-year conventions. “All of our players like SM Convention Centers and most of the big hotels are doing  their best to make sure that their guests are comfortable.”

Boncato said all the Mindanao stakeholders are convening regularly to discuss the power outlook situation.

 â€œAt the end of the day, we will have to come together as one industry and make necessary adjustments of the situation. We have to continue what we have to add more not only short-term but medium-term plan for the tourism industry in Mindanao,” he said.

He said they are coordinating closely with their partners in the energy sector.

 â€œAfter certain plants would have been repaired we would have more wattage but the long-term solution would not really come this year, perhaps next year or two years from now. So we will have to make, as one industry, we have to agree on certain industry to ensure that the  gains we have made over the past few years will not end from something where we have started,” he said.

He said the private sector had already assessed what they have and are discussing some medium-term solutions with the local government units and the For the part of the DOT, Boncato said they have to ensure that the “order of business” of investors in the industry will not be hampered by the outages.

He said they have yet to come up with the estimated tourism revenue targets for Mindanao.

He said they are hoping that revenues would not be greatly affected by these power outages.