THE continued rotational outages in Zamboanga since February 2018 have already affected small and big businesses in the area.
San Ramon Power, Inc. of Alsons Power Group Consultant Ruben Conti in an interview with SunStar Davao Wednesday, April 3, 2019, said the power situation is now affecting the economy of the area and some investors that are supposed to come may be discouraged.
Conti said while hotels and other accommodation businesses and hospitals have power generators, small businesses like vulcanizing shops, tarpaulin printing shops, 3D printing services, and other power-dependent small businesses have been greatly affected.
“There is a minimum of two-hour rotating brownout starting February 4 last year. Those small businesses affected are the people who are greatly affected, big hotels can survive but these are the people whose livelihood depends on power to earn,” he said.
“If you are an investor now and you want to put an investment in the area, there are always two things that you can think of, how reliable will be the water and power in the area. In Zamboanga, investors will be investing in power generators instead which will be an additional expense when it is the responsibility of Zamelco to provide power supply,” he said, adding that investor would likely put their investments in areas where it would be profitable.
The rotational outages continue until today as the Western Mindanao Power Corporation (WMPC) is still waiting for the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco), which is managed by Crown Investments Holdings Incorporated, to pay around P400 million debt October 2018 to March this year.
Raul Redoblado, Alsons Power Group head of external relations strategy, said Crown has been refusing to pay the said payables due to alleged over-billing and that the company is still studying. He said even paying half of amount would solve the issues on power situation in the area.
“Why raise the question of overbilling when we already gave them the account?,” Redoblado said.
The local government unit (LGU) through Mayor Beng Climaco issued a letter requesting Crown’s payment to WMPC on April 2 and demanded immediate power supply for Zamboangeños.