Despite COVID-19 impact, NGCP ramps up transmission works

MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said it is ramping up the construction of vital transmission projects, but emphasized that it continues to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the timelines of these projects.

In a statement, NGCP said it is continuously assessing the impact of the global health crisis on transmission projects, particularly the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection project (MVIP), Western Luzon Backbone project and San Jose-Quezon 230kiloVolt (kV) Line 3 project, among others.

The company said while it is keen on finishing the projects as close to the original schedule, it is fully cognizant of the need to restrict movement and activities to help stem the spread of the virus.

“We are constantly trying to balance public health interests by fully equipping our team with complete PPEs and establishing stringent safety protocols in all workplaces, with the economic need to complete these critical activities,”NGCP said.

It added that project schedules are continually reassessed as varying degrees of community quarantine remain in effect.

“The time lost is not a simple one-is-to-one conversion. Even today, with the limitations on travel and manpower restricted to 50 percent of the workplace capacity, construction activities have not resumed to 100 percent of their pre-quarantine pace,” NGCP said.

“Work completed in a single ‘pre-COVID-19 month’ is now projected for completion within two to four ‘quarantine months.’ This means that if a project was set to be completed within  four months from March (beginning of quarantine measures), the new estimated time of completion would be moved  eight to 16 months from the original completion target. These targets continue to move as we remain bound by health and safety considerations,”it said.

The company assures its stakeholders that it is exerting all efforts to push these vital projects forward and avert all avoidable delays.

“We are thankful and grateful for all the local and national government support we have received so far, but we are again asking for further support, especially as regards the entry of foreign consultants and the rationalization of quarantine restrictions for critical personnel, to further mitigate delays,” NGCP said.

At the height of the nationwide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), NGCP was constrained to temporarily suspend its construction projects to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations.

NGCP said grid management and critical maintenance activities, as well as various operations which were critical to the provision of power, continued despite strict lockdowns.

It added that the lifting of the ECQ on May 16 and the easing of cross-municipal border restrictions allowed NGCP to gradually resume construction work.

“We started the resumption of critical projects as early as May 26, even though the country was still in MECQ. Preparations for this resumption began weeks before that. Compliance with IATF and LGU-specific guidelines needed to be in place before we could ramp up our project activities,”NGCP said.

Among the most challenging compliances, according to NGCP were the RT-PCR COVID testing of critical project personnel, and securing the COVID test results of contractors, as well as facilitating the permits to enter of key personnel to and from hotbed areas.

Despite being declared part of essential services, NGCP said it continues to encounter issues including testing and quarantine variations among LGUs, contractor and supplier delivery problems, inability of foreign experts to conduct necessary inspections due to travel clearance requirements, slowdown of manufacturing of equipment and materials from other COVID-19 affected countries, and other limitations.

“The staggered relaxation of quarantine regulations, even those related to essential industries and construction, has not yet allowed NGCP to fully “return to work” for its construction projects,”NGCP said.

“Construction works did not resume in full due to health and safety protocols, and new normal standards, including COVID-19 testing of all manpower, access to transport and mobility issues, and government-mandated manpower limitations,”NGCP said.

NGCP is a Filipino-led, privately owned company in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid.