Budget approval to create great strides for rural electrification program
By Alena Mae S. Flores – December 31, 2024, 7:35 pm
from manilastandard.net
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Tuesday the approval of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2025 will pave the way for significant strides in the Marcos government’s rural electrification program.
“We hope that the budget allocation for the National Electrification Administration for 2025 would help push the rural electrification program to its completion in the next couple of years,” Gatchalian said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the 2025 GAA which authorizes an expenditure program of P6.352 trillion.
Under the approved budget, NEA was allotted a government subsidy of P1.87 billion to provide electricity for about 22,000 households through the implementation of its strategic rural electrification.
The NEA earlier said inadequate government subsidy was the biggest challenge to the attainment of 100-percent rural electrification.
Gatchalian said some 4.214 million households throughout the country were still without electricity as of June 2023. The government aims to reach total electrification in the country by 2028.
While the five-year plan to achieve 100-percent electrification by 2028 has been progressing, the government needs to ensure that such a target will be achieved through budgetary support, the senator said.
He said economic development, particularly in rural areas, would be difficult to achieve without electricity as it is a major factor in attracting investments and in the operations even of micro and small business enterprises.
“Electricity is a basic necessity for the various businesses we need in remote areas to provide employment and for continued economic development,” Gatchalian said.
Electrification in the country stood at 89 percent in 2023, rising to 91 percent in 2024.
Based on the five-year electrification plan, the government aims to increase coverage to 94 percent by 2025, 97 percent by 2026 and 100 percent by 2027.
The NEA was able to energize 1,153 sitios as of August 2024, through government subsidy provided the previous year.
