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PRESIDENT Arroyo Thursday warned of a “dark future,”
literally, for Negros and Panay if local opposition
persists against the operation of new power plants in
those islands.
Speaking
at the closing program of the
Western Visayas local peace and security assembly in
Quezon
City, the President said these opposition groups should
be “reasonable” enough to see the importance of striking
a balance between environment protection and
power-supply needs.
“If the
opposition to new power plants prevails, and if
investors are driven away from the Panay power sector as
they are being driven away, the people of
Panay will indeed face a dark future,” she warned.
One
thing the opposition could do, she said, is to check the
track record in other countries of the investors who
want to put up the power plants in Panay.
“Let us
be reasonable about believing whether the technology can
protect the environment. . . .Let us be reasonable about
looking at the track record of the proponent in other
countries, whether they have protected the environment,”
she said.
She said
that at present,
Panay Island—comprising
the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan and Capiz—only
has enough power for its basic needs and has no buffer
supply.
“If
there is any shutdown, whether accidental or for
maintenance, there will be a power shortage. And since
Panay has to
import from
Negros
Island,
Negros Occidental is also affected. And therefore
because Negros Occidental is already affected by the
lack of an indigenous power source in
Panay, there is no additional power for additional economic or
population growth.”
Energy
Secretary Angelo Reyes earlier said there were
private-sector proposals for new power plants in Negros
and Panay—the Pulupandan coal-fired plant proposed in
2001 and the Kepco coal plant in 2003—but these were
driven away by local opposition fueled by environmental
concerns.
Negros
is said to have a power deficit of 31 megawatts (MW) at
peak hours, while Panay needs an additional 30.6 MW.
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