Council to tackle SRP power supply next week

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council has postponed the discussion on the proposed memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) and the Cebu City government for power distribution at the South Road Properties.

The MOA was supposed to be taken up yesterday but the council has decided to cancel yesterday’s regular session to give councilors time to have a break after the celebration of the city’s 72nd Charter Day on Tuesday.

City administrator Francisco Fernandez said the MOA was submitted by Cebu Investment and Promotion Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari Yu to him only last Friday and he immediately referred it to the council for approval.

Fernandez said the council may take it up and act on it immediately or refer it to the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

It was decided earlier by the city officials and mayor on-leave Tomas Osmeña to let the VECO supply power to the SRP considering that the facility still falls under the franchise area of the power firm.

Under the MOA, VECO will pay the city 20 centavos for every kilowatt-hour of electricity supplied to the locators of SRP.

Fernandez said that at present, the city has no choice but to tap VECO because they are not capacitated to connect directly to the National Power Corporation.

He said Napocor might set a minimum requirement which is hard to attain for now since there is no evident demand yet. The city is now fast-tracking the putting up of utilities because Filinvest Land Inc. is expected to start the development of the 50.6-hectare area in less than six months.

For the water supply, the city is also set to compose soon the Joint Venture Selection Committee that will look into the unsolicited proposal of Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. — Ferliza C. Contratista/WAB   (THE FREEMAN)