MANILA, Philippines - The energy shortage in the Visayas will soon ease because the billion-dollar 600-megawatt (MW) power plants in Cebu and Iloilo would start generating power next month, President Arroyo said yesterday.
The power plants are projects of the Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), the power generation arm of the Metrobank group.
“There is an energy gap in the Visayas, but it is being plugged by a 200-MW plant in Naga, Cebu and a billion dollars’ worth of investment by Metrobank and its partners for more than 600 MW in Cebu and Iloilo,” she said in her message at the start of the Cabinet meeting in Puerto Princesa in Palawan.
“In fact, their new 250 MW plant in Toledo, Cebu soft opened last Sunday and will be inaugurated on March 1 with myself as guest of honor,” she added.
Meanwhile, administration presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro yesterday pushed for the temporary tax-free importation of power generators for private firms needing stable power supply.
“(If there are firms that) can produce their own electric power for a given time in a more efficient manner, let’s leave them be,” he said.
Source: The Philippine Star
