Iloilo Grain Complex proposes alternative line route for NGCP project
By Manila Standard Business – December 5, 2023, 9:10 am
Iloilo Grain Complex Corp. (IGCC) is contesting the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) expropriation of its property for a transmission project, alleging that the agency did not secure the required permit from the Energy Regulatory Commission, causing the delay in its proposed 138-kiloVolt (kV) Panay-Guimaras Interconnection Project.
IGCC spokesperson Toby Tañada said the company’s proposed route is more economically viable and technically feasible than the one proposed by NGCP. He also said that IGCC’s sister company, La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp. (LFUGC), was willing to cooperate with the project if NGCP uses an alternative route.
NGCP secured an expropriation order and writ of possession from the Iloilo Regional Trial Court Branch 33 in September 2022 to build two tower sites inside IGCC’s property. However, IGCC questioned the RTC’s ruling and secured a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court in April 2023.
The Supreme Court has yet to issue a final ruling on the case.
“Records will show that from the start it was NGCP that caused the delay of its own project. It did not secure the required ERC permit; failed to make a genuine just compensation offer to IGCC; and refused to consider cheaper and more practical right-of-way alternatives,” Tañada said.
A portion of the Supreme Court order said: “the trial court [Iloilo RTC Br 33] committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it issued the writ of possession without first determining whether NGCP has in fact complied with the requirements of the law for a valid exercise of its delegated power to expropriate, among them, the existence of a genuine necessity for the taking of the subject property, compliance with the required ERC approval for the project, and compliance with the requirement that the expropriation and the manner by which it is sought to be implemented is least burdensome to the landowner.”
Tañada denied NGCP’s claims that it reached out to IGCC for settlement. He said the parties submitted all their arguments and counter-arguments to the Supreme Court.
“The highest court of the land has spoken and all parties need to respect and abide by the Supreme Court ruling,” Tañada said.
He said IGCC proposed that NGCP’s existing 69kV line could share posts, structures and right of way (ROW) using the “underbuilt” system.
Underbuilt lines are a common practice in distribution systems as well as transmission systems built by NGCP’s state-owned predecessor, the National Transmission Co., he said.
“IGCC believes that our company’s proposed route for the project is not only technically feasible but is also more economically viable [following a direct route] than the proposed NGCP route [which follows a less direct, longer route]. Under our proposed route, the existing 69kV line can share posts/structures and ROW since it can be “underbuilt” under the proposed 138kV transmission line,” Tañada said.
Underbuilt overhead transmission systems are typically resorted to when there are constraints or limitations in the ROW, which result in much lesser costs due to lesser ROW acquisition requirements and the sharing of posts or structures between two transmission or distribution lines, he said.
He said a few examples of these are the underbuilt transmission systems used in the La Trinidad-Loakan 69 kV line in Benguet, the Bacolod-San Enrique and Bacolod-Alijis 69kV transmission line in Negros, and NGCP’s Ormoc-Maasin 138kV transmission line and 69kV in Leyte.
Tañada said IGCC’s sister company, La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp. (LFUGC), would not object to the proposed alternative transmission line route which traverses its property.
