PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Friday vowed to fulfill the promise of his administration to leave Mindanao in a better situation.
”Rest assured, we will fulfill our promise to leave Mindanao in a better situation,” President Aquino said in his speech during the inauguration of the 300-megawatt Davao Baseload Power that the Aboitiz Power Corp. put up in Davao.
The President also assured to maintain the government’s steadfast commitment to peace and will continue to focus the national coffers towards infrastructure development “so that those who have historically been left behind are given a boost so that they can catch up.”
”I am certain that, if we continue working together—both public and private sector alike—we can truly give rise to a Mindanao that reaches its full potential, and prove, once more, that nothing is impossible to a united Filipino people,” the President said.
President Aquino thanked the Aboitiz Power Corp. and Therma South Inc. “for being an early believer in the potential of Mindanao.”
”When this plant becomes fully operational, we can count on it to consistently produce 300 megawatts of baseload power, which means that this capacity can be tapped into anytime, rain or shine, with very minor fluctuations,” President Aquino said.
The President said he is a believer in the development of renewable energy but “unfortunately, right now, we cannot wean ourselves completely from relying on coal.”
He said the 300mw baseload power plant’s dependable capacity is roughly equivalent to one-fifth of the Mindanao grid’s highest peak demand in 2015—and it is already delivering power to areas at the end of the grid, such as Sarangani, General Santos, and the Zamboanga peninsula. PNA
”Apart from all the projects that have come to fruition during our administration, our private sector partners have committed to undertake at least another 11 power projects in Mindanao that will come online between 2016 and 2020, envisioned to produce at least another 675.30 megawatts of capacity, which will be more than enough to cover the projected increase in demand for those years,” he said.
President Aquino said the 300mw baseload power plant is part of his administration’s commitment to transform Mindanao “from the Land of Promise, to the Land of Promises Fulfilled.”
”And over the past few years, we have seen the beginnings of this transformation,” he said.
He said under the leadership of Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman, the government was able to increase the investments in the region from Php87.9million in 2010 to Php3.9 billion in 2014.
”This happened with all of the tensions in the region,” the President noted.