3 firms interested in underground cable project

CEBU, Philippines — At least two companies and a consortium of telcos have now expressed feelers of interest to invest in the underground cabling facility (UCF) in Cebu City.

City Councilor Jerry Guardo, chairman of the city’s infrastructure committee, disclosed to The Freeman that so far, there are two companies that have expressed interest in the UCF including Converge and the US-based Cosmo Energy.

Aside from that, some telcos are also looking at a possible consortium.

“PPP would be the best alternative option. With the public-private partnership, amoang lot, silay mo-built sa infrastructure. Sabutan na lang nila pilay ilang rental sa mga telco operators na mogamit,” said Guardo.

Guardo also disclosed that Converge has also expressed interest.

“Ang Converge, they called, interested sad sila kay naa sad silay separate company for infrastructure,” added Guardo.

Another company also contacted the city’s disaster council chairman, lawyer Gerry Carrillo, who is also willing to help the city in this UCF.

Based on the report of the city’s Public Information Office, the said company is the Cosmo Energy LLC of Oklahoma, USA.

“Ingon ko na wait lang sa ta na ang katong akong proposed ordinance sa City Council ma approve, then it will be the time that we can entertain sa mga prospective nga mga investors,” added Guardo.

The matter on underground cabling came about after Cebu City was badly hit by Typhoon Odette last December 16, 2021 where many electrical and telco lines got cut off.

Aside from the underground cabling, Guardo said, Converges was also willing to replace all broken poles and donate it to the city and even just have one pole for everyone.

“They wanted to replace the poles and donate it to the city and the city will be the one to manage it na..so wala na nyay conflict na dili magpataud ang usa ka company kay kompetensya..so this also avoids redundancy,” said Guardo.

With this, the one pole policy that Guardo is also pushing will also be realized, he said. — GMR (FREEMAN)