North Cotabato to enjoy direct connection with power plant

MANILA, Philippines - North Cotabato, the Philippines’ leading rubber producing province, will soon have a direct power connection from two Mt. Apo geothermal plants, 20 years after the province filed its request for the project. Once completed, the province—also considered as Mindanao’s food basket—will finally have a stable electricity supply, sourced from two geothermal plants managed by the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC). “We’ve long waited for this," said Governor Jesus Sacdalan during a Wednesday meeting between provincial officials and executives of the National Transmission Corp (Transco). Facilities should be protected from harm and local government units benefiting from the project should also pay some equity, Sacdalan said. Ever since geothermal facilities—which generate 52 and 54 megawatts of electricity—were established in the late eighties, Sacdalan said that then-governor Rosario Diaz already sought national government approval for the project. - GMANews.TV