KEPCO signs MOA for electrification of more barangays

CEBU - At least 20 more barangays will soon get electricity as officials of Korean Electric Power Corporations (KEPCO) have committed to continue supporting the electrification projects of Cebu Province.

This was bared during the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between KEPCO President and Chief Executive Officer Kang-Won Lee and Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on the electrification of additional 81 sitios in various barangays.

Under the agreement, KEPCO committed to secure and provide all the required materials up to a maximum cost of P20 million for the electrification of the sitios.

The company will purchase the electrical conductors, transformers, insulators and other pole line hardware needed in the implementation of the electrification project.

The Cebu Electric Cooperative (CEBECO) will identify and prepare an order of priority for the beneficiary sitios and barangays.

CEBECO shall construct and install the electrical lines based on the agreed program and scope of work and order of priority.

The Department of Energy and KEPCO have executed a MOA last December 2005 also for the electrification of 500 barangays in the country.

Lee said the 200-megawatt Cebu-Naga power plant construction is already 30 percent complete and ahead of schedule. They expect to finish construction in 2010 and power distribution starts in 2011.

“We are ahead of schedule in Naga and because of lack of power, we are expediting the completion of the power plant,” Lee said.

He added that with the support from the local government and CEBECO they will complete the project ahead of time.

The 200-MW Cebu-Naga project is a coal-fired power plant that will utilize clean coal technology that limits nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide emissions at environmentally-friendly levels.

KEPCO is undertaking the project jointly with SALCON Power Corporation.

The largest Korean investor in the Philippines, KEPCO operates the $700 million, 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas and the 650-MW Malaya Thermal Plant in Pililia, Rizal. – Garry B. Lao/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)