Power retailer Manila Electric Co. said it needs to relocate more than 10,000 electric poles at a cost of P14.155 billion to pave the way for the construction of five railway projects of the Department of Transportation.
“Our initial ballpark estimate is for us to be able to relocate all the affected poles in all these five priority projects of the DOTr, we will be needing P14.1 billion. There’s a cost-sharing between Meralco [30 percent] and DOTr [70 percent],” Meralco senior vice president Ronnie Aperocho said.
About P9.916 billion of the relocation cost will be charged to DOTr, while P4.239 billion will be charged to Meralco as project cost, subject to approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The rail projects include the 12.6-kilometer PNR North 2 project (390 poles), 38.2-km PNR North 1 project (1,395 poles), 25-km Metro Manila Subway project (238 poles), 56-km PNR South Commuter Railway project (1,884 poles) and the 208-km PNR South Long Haul project (6,435 poles).
“This estimate is based on preliminary cost design estimate and for budgetary purposes…to agree to shoulder adjustment costs based on actual relocation costs,” Aperocho said.
Aperocho said a memorandum of agreement was being finalized for the pole relocation to avoid major issues and potential sources of disputes.
Aperocho said Meralco was also working on the relocation of poles affected by several infrastructure projects under the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.
These projects include Light Rail Transit Line 2 2 East Extension, Skyway Stage 3, MNTC Segment 10, LRT 1 Cavite Extension, Metro Rail Transit Line 7, C5 Southlink and Cavite-Laguna Expressway
“All the other slow-moving projects are because of the delay in the acquisition of ROW [right of way] for us to ahead with the execution,” he said.
Meralco senior vice president Alfredo Panlilio said the company needed to file applications with the ERC for the approval of the relocation cost to be shouldered by the utility.
“The portion of Meralco is for load growth. Since we are constructing especially some underground, we have proposed to include it already that’s why we are shouldering a portion,” he said.
Meralco is the country’s biggest power distributor with over six million customers in its franchise area.
