THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) have reached a compromise to facilitate the completion of the Cebu-Magdugo 230-kilovolt (kV) line.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, lawyer Cynthia Perez-Alabanza, NGCP’s public relations officer, said an agreement had already been inked by the transmission company and the Department of Tourism’s attached agency and infrastructure arm last month to proceed with the construction of two transmission towers situated at the Kang-Irag properties of Tieza in Cebu City.
Alabanza said the construction of the 230kV transmission line towers is slated to be finished by the end of December 2023.
“(This is) assuming (that) all things go well, but this is just for the construction of the tower since the whole thing is a line,” Alabanza said during the Power 101 Forum at the Bai Hotel Cebu, Mandaue City on Tuesday.
The project, originally scheduled for completion in October 2023, faced a setback when the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on Sept. 23. This legal intervention halted the construction of the project in response to a complaint filed by Tieza.
On Nov. 9, NGCP made public the halted construction of the Cebu-Magdugo 230kV line.
Learning of this, Alabanza said, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco promptly contacted NGCP to address the issue and facilitate the resumption of the project’s civil works.
Alabanza said the Cebu-Magdugo 230 kV Line is a vital component of the Cebu-Negros-Panay Stage 3 project. It is a 33-kilometer transmission line stretching from NGCP’s substation in Cebu City to Toledo City crossing the mountain barangays of both cities.
It is seen to solve and stabilize the monitored overloading and undervoltage felt on the 138kV overhead power transmission line of Cebu-Colon and Cebu-Quiot-Cebu that if left unsolved will result in power outages in Cebu.
She added that the transmission line is also crucial for the maximization of the 450-megawatt power transfer from the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP).
The MVIP is only transferring half of its capacity through the Dapitan-Santander submarine cable as the Cebu-Negros-Panay transmission line project stage 3 has yet to be completed.
Alabanza underscored the critical importance of completing these projects, noting that Cebu Province uses half of the total power supply in the Visayas grid, with Cebu City alone consuming also half of the power that is supplied to the province.
Another crucial project for Cebu province under the NGCP’s pipeline of projects is the Cebu-Lapu-Lapu 230kV transmission lines and Cebu-Umapad 230kV transmission line which are slated for completion by 2024.