THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is pushing to criminalize the deliberate planting of trees and the construction of any structure within the right-of-way (ROW) clearances of power lines across the country through the Anti-Power Line Disturbance Act.
The power grid operator said this will ease constraints in the transmission lines in the country.
"We are hopeful that the 17th Congress will re-file the bill originally proposed in the previous Congress by House Representatives," NGCP said in a press statement.
The company aims to get the support of the current House Committee on Energy chaired by Representative Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque and the Senate Committee on Energy led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian in pushing for the enactment of the said bill.
The proposed act will authorize private grid-operator NGCP, distribution utilities, and electric cooperatives to immediately cut or prune trees, and remove any obstruction to power line.
The law, when enacted, is expected to eliminate substantial delays in NGCP's project construction and regular maintenance activities, particularly with uncooperative landowners and claimants who maliciously plant trees and build structures within the ROW clearance, and demand exorbitant amounts before allowing NGCP access to the property.
"Support in the form of legislation will ultimately be for the benefit of power consumers. The issue on settling ROW cases has delayed both current and new projects of NGCP. It is also a recurring and worsening issue, especially in Mindanao and North Luzon. The sooner we can complete our projects and maintain our lines, the sooner we can provide secure and reliable power transmission services to the people," NGCP said.
For years, ROW issues remain to be the major setback of the grid operator's promise: providing efficient transmission of power.