Saturday, August 16, 2008 Councilor: Hedcor cancels Suawan hydro project
HEDCOR has reportedly decided to cancel one of three mini-hydro power plants it proposed to build in Davao City's 3rd district due to delays in the project.
According to Councilor Peter Laviña, Hedcor president Rene Ronquillo was quoted by a national paper as saying that Hedcor Board has decided to scrap the Suawan plant, part of the 34.5 megawatt Tamugan-Panigan-Suawan hydropower project estimated to cost P7 billion.
"The reason for the delay is the opposition of the local water utility, Davao City Water District. The delay is already two years. For us lay people, the dispute is easily resolvable as it pertains mainly on elevation, where water would be tapped by either Hedcor or DCWD, and not on a fundamental issue on the use or misuse of water resources. Technical solutions can certainly fix the problem and both parties have plenty of good engineers," Laviña said.
Laviña fears further delays might push Hedcor to also scrap the building of the two remaining plants that are expected to meet local energy shortage by 2010.
"If the water utility continues to dilly dally, here's what I see in the future. Two years down the road, the water district will have to fend off two public causes of anger -- poor water service and the dreaded brownouts. Yup, I would squarely put the blame on DCWD if the city suffers from power shortages starting in 2010," Laviña said.
The councilor also doubted the positive result of the recent Philippine Sanitation Alliance's seminar-workshop on "Developing a Comprehensive Program for Septage Management in Davao City".
The program, he said, is organized by the Davao City Water District with fund support from the USAid.
"About a decade ago, the water utility firm was also a recipient of fund support from foreign aid agencies on the sewerage system for the city. Nothing, unfortunately, came out of it. The same can be said of its plans for the Tamugan River as source of surface water. The National Water Resource Board granted it permit 10 years ago, but nothing has been done about it," Laviña said. (GLP)
