DoE forms task force to rehab Marawi poor facilities
THE Department of Energy (DoE) has created an interagency panel that is tasked to look after the rehabilitation of energy facilities in Marawi City damaged by fighting there since May 23.
In a statement on Monday, the department said members of the group are the DoE, National Power Corp. (Napocor), Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., National Electrification Administration and the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Lasureco).
The DoE said 20% of Marawi City remains without electricity while 15 municipalities of Lanao del Sur’s first district still have to be energized. Official government statistics place the province’s municipalities at 39, with Marawi as the lone city.
The assessment came from the InterAgency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities (IATSEF), which DoE convened after radical Islamists belonging to the Maute group besieged Marawi City. Government forces continue efforts to rid the area of terrorists.
The task force on June also said 16 municipalities in Lanao del Sur’s second district had been fully energized based on the report by Lasureco on the power supply situation in its franchise area as of 9:00 a.m.
Power supply in the three towns of Lanao del Norte remains normal, the DoE said.
On power generation, the department said Napocor’s Mindanao office reported that the Agus-Pulangi power plants were operating normally, with Marawi Lake’s elevation at 701.292 meters above sea level and Lake Lanao’s discharge at 160 cubic meters per second.
It cited a report saying transmission facilities were operating normally. It said Mindanao State University, which is directly connected to the transmission lines, was energized as of 12:34 p.m. on Saturday, June 3.
In its statement, the DoE said the task force expanded its membership to include the Department of Finance, Philippine Information Agency and the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. The task of the group is to secure all energy facilities in the entire country.
The expanded membership and the policies on resiliency are embodied in a draft department circular that will be scheduled for public consultation, DoE said.