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65 barangays nationwide have yet to be energized

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Sixty-five villages throughout the archipelago or less than a percent of the country’s 42,025 barangays, including those in strife-torn Mindanao areas have yet to be energized, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

Norman Martirez, DOE senior research specialist, said that besides budgetary constraints, the electrification of the remaining unenergized villages, 39 percent of which are in Mindanao, has been hampered by rough terrain, as well as peace and order problems.

Likewise, Martirez, in line with the government’s rural electrification program, said that the energy sector is targeting at least 90 percent enegization of household in the country by 2017.

The DOE said that of the still unenergized areas, 25 barangays are located in Mindanao , most of which are those having problems with peace and order or caught in conflicts between the government and Muslim separatists and communist rebels as well as common bandits.

On the other hand, the 37 and three remaining unenergized barangays in Luzon and Visayas, respectively, are those lying in extremely rough terrain which caused additional expenses for power firms to link these villages with power cables.

According to the DOE, they already considered a village energized when at least one household or the main plaza is already tapped to the main line.

The remaining 65 barangays, the DOE said have yet to be reached by any power lines within its area.

“We estimate that we would be able to reach 100 percent energization of barangays in the country by at least 2017,” Martirez said, while discussing the DOE’s energy plan for 2009-2030 during last week’s seminar of renewable energy in Benguet.

The seminar was facilitated by the Benguet Press Corps and the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club in partnership with SN Aboitiz Power, a Filipino-Norwegian consortium, which now owns Northern Luzon ’s three major dams – the Magat Dam in the Isabela-Ifugao border and the Ambuklao and Binga dams in Benguet.

The DOE said that it also envision that at least 90 percent of households in the country will be energized by 2017.

Martirez also said that while the DOE is making all efforts to fully energize all remaining villages in the country, it also endeavors to cut down the country’s dependence on oil and coal in generating power.

In line with the government’s energy plan, the DOE said it will be tapping as well as enhancing more ecologically friendly power sources like solar, wind, ocean, geothermal, and hydro dams. CCL

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