Senator Sherwin Gatchalian struck a hopeful tone Friday following Malacanang’s “marching orders” to a newly-formed Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) Task Group to effectively eliminate red tape for new power plant projects seen to cut recurring brownouts crippling economic growth.
The Senator is banking on “no less than President Duterte himself giving marching orders to concerned government agencies to ensure the speedy implementation of the streamlined permitting process under the Task Group noting this shows the “continuing commitment of the country’s Chief Executive to fight red tape.
Gatchalian, who has been pushing for remedial measures to ensure steady power supply, thanked Duterte for “recognizing EVOSS Task Group as an important measure to fight red tape in the energy sector to spur the construction of new power plants.”
The senator expects the signing of Executive Order No. 143 paving the way for the creation of the EVOSS Task Group (ETG), will continue the work of the steering committee in terms of reducing the number of processes investors have to go through before putting up a power supply plan, as the term of the previous EVOSS steering committee expired last March.
He pointed out that power industry players noted recent rotational power outages in Luzon could have been avoided if only there were more power plants available to compensate for the unplanned and forced outages.
Recalling that President Duterte issued a directive to officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to ensure that no power outages will happen again, the senator pointed out that “red tape is the problem.”
“Ask any potential investor in the electric power industry,” he suggested, noting that “the law was meticulously crafted to reduce the number of processes and reduce the number of days in putting up new energy projects.”
Sen, Gatchalian asserted there was “no more reason for delayed applications for new power projects, more so now that there is a need for participation of investors to ensure steady delivery of supply from the energy sector.”
He voiced hopes that “this time, the ETG will put a concrete timetable for the full implementation of the law and operate the soonest possible time,” even as Gatchalian reminded that ‘fighting red tape will provide a new and competitive environment for investors and address the country’s problem on energy supply,”