Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has lamented that a plan by a government agency to develop a golf course in Cebu stands in the way of linking the Visayas and Mindanao power grids.
“I am urging the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) to withdraw its petition before the Supreme Court opposing the construction of a power line that would lead to the Visayas-Mindanao interconnection,” he said.
He said TIEZA is opposed to the Cebu-Magdugo line because two tower sites are located within its property, which it plans to convert into a golf course.
“This agency has misplaced priorities. It regards a golf course as more important than the power interconnection of Visayas and Mindanao, which will unlock enormous development potentials in these two large islands, in addition to energizing many urban and rural communities,” he said.
Rodriguez appealed to the Department of Tourism, to which TIEZA is attached, to compel TIEZA to withdraw its petition before the Supreme Court.
Once the complaint is withdrawn, the high court should lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) it issued against the construction of the Cebu power line, he said.
According to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), they have until the end of this year to interconnect the Visayas and Mindanao power grids.
However, NGCP, the operator of the country’s transmission lines, said the Supreme Court TRO would delay the interconnection.
It said the Cebu-Magdugo line is a component of the Cebu-Negros-Pangay backbone project, which it added was crucial to the operation of the 450-megawatt Mindanao-Visayas interconnection project.
Rodriguez said TIEZA and the Supreme Court should allow these projects to proceed and be completed “because these would result in reliable power supply in Visayas and Mindanao.”
“Who knows, these may even lead to lower electricity costs in our communities,” he said.