Tuesday, October 21, 2008 City competitiveness downed by power shortage
THE competitiveness of the highly urbanized city of Iloilo is being downgraded by insufficient power supply that deters many investors from coming and setting up businesses.
Mayor Jerry P. Treñas made the announcement recently after coming back from attending the 2008 Local Government Code anniversary conference at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Manila.
Treñas said the AIM competitiveness program has downgraded the rank of Iloilo City from Number 2 in 2007 to Number 6 in 2008 mainly due to the high cost and insufficient supply of power.
It is "urgent" for the city to "have cheap and sustainable power supply in order to attract business investors," Treñas said. The mayor added that the problem is being addressed through the establishment of a coal-fired power plant.
Global Business Power Corp. is answering the city's need by putting up a coal plant designed to generate 164 megawatts of power for the city and province of Iloilo in addition to electricity generated by Panay Power Corp. and National Power Corp.
The AIM competitiveness ranking of cities in the country is a top reference material of businessmen and investors when selecting a potential city for investment.
Dr. Federico Macaranas of AIM is slated to conduct a one day program and forum in Iloilo City by December to make people understand better the importance of the competitiveness program. (LCP)
