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Thursday, March 16, 2006
Talk back: That power plant story
By Joel Mari S. Yu
Managing Director
Cebu Investment Promotions Center
I would like to correct inaccuracies in your headline story of March 12, 2006.
Your staff writer Charmaine Y. Rodriguez reported that there is a 100-megavolt ampere power plant in the Barangay Quiot, Cebu City substation and that work on this power plant is now delayed affecting the South Road Projects (SRP).
There is no power plant being constructed or planned for construction inside that facility. There is an ongoing work to upgrade the existing substation there.
The Quiot substation is designed to distribute power from Transco to Veco’s customers within the area and which may include ultimately the SRP. For the present however, the management of SRP identified an alternate sourcing scheme, because it correctly anticipated delays in the upgrading work ongoing at the Quiot substation.
Unfortunately, your headline unnecessarily alarms potential investors at the SRP because of incorrect reporting. The reporter did not probably even know the difference between a power generating facility and a distribution facility.
We enjoin SunStar to make necessary corrections because, while this technical matter may be trivial to you, it is very important that potential investors at the SRP get the correct picture of the power situation there.
(CYR’s reply: The report did not state that the delay in the power project is affecting the SRP.
The article was based on the information that Arnaldo Claudio of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco)-Visayas told the Regional Development Council 7 infrastructure development committee (IDC) during a meeting last Friday and to reporters of two dailies, including Sun.Star Cebu, in an interview after the item was taken up during the committee meeting.
It was Claudio who revealed to the IDC and to reporters that the project is needed to support the energy requirement of the SRP and southern Cebu. But he said that since there are still no locators in the SRP, they could cover for now the energy requirements in the area.
Also, the story did not mention that a power plant is being constructed or is scheduled for construction in the facility. However, Mr. Yu was correct when he said that there is an ongoing work to upgrade the existing substation in Barangay Quiot, Cebu City.
The Project Monitoring Report of the IDC stated that the project is "primarily intended to upgrade and improve the power distribution system supplying Metro Cebu and outlying municipalities, particularly the southern portion.” However, I decided to give importance to Mr. Claudio's statement during the meeting and chose to include it in the story instead of merely quoting the report.
By the way, Transco-Visayas spokesperson Ben Ypil texted me after the news story came out and commended me for a "balanced" report.)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 16, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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