Power shortages loom anew — PCCI

The country’s biggest business group yesterday warned of more crippling power outages unless plants were upgraded and more investment in the sector was allowed to go ahead.

Most part of the country early this year experienced a wave of daily power outages as power plants broke down and a drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon dried up dams that power hydro-electricity plants.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said Department of Energy (DoE) figures showed total power demand was growing by 4.9 percent annually on the heavily urbanized main island of Luzon.

Demand in the central region of Visayas and the southern island of Mindanao was growing at 4.6 percent annually.

The country now faces a “critical power shortfall of 600 megawatts until 2013” with no new power plants expected to go online until then, the PCCI said.

It said in the Visayas region peak demand had reached 1,298 megawatts whereas dependable capacity was only at 971 megawatts, leading to a deficit, while Mindanao was in the same situation.

This year’s disruption took a heavy toll on businesses, forcing government to declare a “state of calamity” in parts of the south.

“There are big players willing to invest in power generation plants but they are not assured of viable buyers and decent returns,” PCCI president Francis Chua said.

He said government should identify alternatives and contingency measures, including a review of regulatory powers to allow more firms to come into the sector.

Chua added the PCCI has submitted to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala a private sector policy reform agenda to modernize local agriculture and attain food security.

On top of the reforms sought by the country’s largest business organization is the immediate overhauling of the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) and the lifting of protective tariffs on imported sugar.

Signed by PCCI vice president for agriculture Roberto Amores, the PCCI requested Alcala to revisit the mandate of the SRA to prevent a repeat of the abnormal surge in sugar prices in the last year of the previous administration.

PCCI also sought the revamp of the sugar regulatory body’s composition to include representatives of food manufacturers and processors as well as a representative of PCCI, instead of just the sugar planters.

The business chamber also requested Alcala to remove the 38 percent protective tariff on imported sugar for there is no more pressing need for the government to support the sugar planters.

Another hot issue which PCCI suggested is for the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund administered by the Department of Agriculture to be truly used in farm and fisheries modernization, not on scholarships.

“These should include common analytical and testing facilities of chemical residues in food exports recognized by importing countries, particularly Japan, the United States and Europe with food traceability capabilities,” said Amores.

Pre-shipment testing and traceability of fresh, frozen and processed food was put into effect by the US and the European Union beginning last January but the Philippines does not have enough facilities to comply with these requirements.

Further, PCCI sought for the establishment of crop production zones or clusters for proven export winners in strategic regions across the archipelago to reduce the costs of producing high-value export crops. In those zones, support facilities like cold storage plants and testing facilities to determine food safety should form part of the production clustering strategy.

Among the winner crops suggested to be clustered for abundant production mentioned by PCCI were: Cavendish and cordova bananas, mango, pineapple, dalandan, calamansi, squash, okra and bell pepper.

The common post-harvest facilities could be funded with private sector money in partnership with the host local government units through variations of the build-operate-transfer law. AFP, Ayen Infante, Daily Tribune