STA. CRUZ, DAVAO DEL SUR. The upland communities from Barangay Sibulan going to Barangay Darong, this town, will soon be lighted through a P3 million-worth of electrification project by a hydropower company.
Sta. Cruz Mayor Joel Ray Lopez said that around 500 households would benefit from the electrification project from Hedcor, Inc. which is operating hydropower plants in the municipality.
Lopez said Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla has approved this project and issued on April 9 this year the notice to proceed the implementation.
The assistance would be used to purchase house wiring and service dropping materials that would be turned over to the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (DASURECO) for implementation.
This forms part of the P3 million yearly commitment of Hedcor in its electrification efforts to remote barangays in the province, as part of its corporate social responsibilities for operating the 42.5-megawatt run-of-river Sibulan hydropower plants in the municipality of Sta. Cruz.
Last week, Hedcor started the full operation of its newest hydropower plants, also located in said municipality, the Tudaya 1 and Tudaya 2 plants which contribute 13.6MW to the Mindanao grid.
Hedcor has also earlier partnered with DASURECO in the latter’s line expansion project intended for households who did not qualify for President Aquino’s Sitio Electrification Program (SEP) and Barangay Line Enhancement Program (BLEP).
This partnership has already benefited about 60 households from Digos City and 14 municipalities in the province.
DASURECO, meanwhile, was tapped as the main implementer of SEP/BLEP in Davao del Sur until 2016 with P269 million subsidy from the government.
DASURECO general manager Godofredo Guya earlier said that this is the biggest subsidy allocation in the entire country.
Guya said they started implementing SEP/BLEP last year, with a target of more than 5,000 households in 230 sitios in the entire province. (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)