BAGUIO CITY March 14 – Public utility and cable companies operating in the city support the planned conversion of the existing overhead lines to underground lines to prevent the eyesore of dangling wires in the central business district area.
Officials of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Sky Cable appeared before the regular session of the local legislative body last Monday and signified their support to the pending proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. requiring all public utility companies utilizing wires and cables to install underground lines and obliging them to convert overhead lines within the central business district to underground lines.
While it is true that the underground lines will be better and greatly advantageous in ensuring lesser interruptions during the onslaught of strong typhoons, it was not clear during the discussions who will shoulder the expensive cost of converting the overhead lines to underground lines considering the enormous expenses to be incurred once the public utility companies and cable firms will decide to shift to the preferred underground cable system which might result in the significant increase in rates.
Utility and cable firms agree to the fact that the installation of underground lines in the city’s central business district area helps eliminate eye sores around the city and prevent the dangling lines from posing a threat to public safety, especially during natural calamities.
Members of the City Council urged the utility and cable companies to start coordinating with each other and concerned government agencies in the preparation of the overall plan to convert the overhead lines to underground lines in the future in compliance with the provisions of the city’s Environment Code that clearly prescribes overhead lines around the city’s central business district area must be converted to underground lines.
The local legislative body underscored the importance of close coordination among the involved utility and cable companies and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to make sure that the diggings will be simultaneous to guarantee that all the cables will be installed the soonest to lessen the inconvenience to the public.
The City Council tasked the Committee on Public Utilities, Traffic and Transport Legislation to conduct the appropriate study on the proposed ordinance taking into consideration the inputs from the representatives of the utility and cable companies before coming out with its recommendation on the said issue which had been deliberated in previous councils.
Initially, officials of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) estimated that the conversion of its overhead lines to underground lines in an 11-kilometer area of the central business district will cost more than P2 billion which will be passed on to consumers of the cooperatives in the form of increased power cost.
The council wants the utility and cable companies to be the ones to initiate the coordination and planning for the conversion of the city’s overhead lines to underground lines and for them not to wait for concerned government agencies and the local government to act on the matter because it will take time for them to do so.**By Dexter A. See
