It would take about two weeks to prepare chosen Bohol ports for these to accommodate barges that would provide supplemental power supply to the province, said a Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) official on Thursday.
According to PPA Tagbilaran manager Engr. James Gantalao, the port in Cortes and the Tapal Wharf in Ubay were pinpointed as among top options for mooring sites of the barges.
Both piers are nearer to facilities of distribution utilities in the province, he said.
Gantalao noted that piers considered to be among moorings sites for the power barges will be retrofitted with equipment required by the waterborne facilities’ owning companies.
“It would depend on the demand of the barge. If they only need mooring, so they would need fender, mooring bitts to tie the vessel and other requirements since their barge has a different design than vessels that usually dock here,” said Gantalao in Cebuano.
The PPA and the project’s contractor have undergone consultations on the modifications to be made at proposed docking areas.
Once the power facility is ready to operate, its administrators would also need to comply with environmental requirements and secure an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said Gantalao.
“The ECC is really a requirement on the [power barge] installation,” he added.
Meanwhile, water level of the mooring area in Cortes has been approved following an assessment made by authorities in previous days.
“There’s no problem in terms of depth. We’ve already made a survey,” said Gantalao.
The port official said that current preparations are particularly meant for immediate usage of the power barges but noted that officials are also planning the long term use of the power facilities for future emergency situations.
In previous meetings of the Bohol Energy Development Advisory Group, it was bared that two power barges owned by PHINMA Energy Corp. and the SPC Island Power Corp. are set to be utilized in a bid to meet the province’s electricity demand.
However, the two vessels have not yet departed for Bohol as preparations for their arrival are still ongoing at docking areas. (AD)