NGCP says BIMP 2025 deadline too tight, but vows best efforts

MANILA  -The country’s sole power grid operator will “do its best” to complete the P14-billion Batangas-Mindoro Interconnection Project (BMIP) two years ahead of its original completion date, as ordered by the Department of Energy (DOE).

National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday admitted that the December 2025 deadline for the completion of the project was a “tall order” coming from the DOE, as they had initially proposed to finish it by 2027 based on preconstruction work.

NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza explained to reporters that transmission lines usually took seven to 10 years to complete, and that the 2025 deadline “left zero elbow room” for errors.

“The December 2025 [deadline] is something they want us to do and we will do our best … Can it be done? I don’t know. We’ll do our best, it’s a tall order,” Alabanza said.

Connecting Mindoro to Luzon grid

The BMIP will finally connect Mindoro to the main Luzon grid to address supply shortage and power interruptions in the island.

READ: Power outage-prone Mindoro soon to be linked to Luzon grid

Mindoro will be connected through the Pinamucan 230-kilovolt substation in Batangas, while Calapan City will serve as the interconnection point in Mindoro.

NGCP unveiled its BMIP plan in 2011 and refiled the project with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in July 2021. It only received provisional approval in February this year to implement the project with a cost of P14.03 billion.

With less than two years left to complete the project in time for the DOE’s imposed deadline, Alabanza warned that there was a possibility that NGCP would need a bigger budget.“For a rush project, there’s going to be a premium. But for now, it’s a bit speculative as to how it would affect the project cost,” she said.

Alabanza noted that right-of-way acquisition and permitting issues remained their main barriers to meeting the “very tight” December 2025 deadline.

According to NGCP, it is currently conducting a survey to determine the number of households that will be affected by the project, which will subsequently help in identifying how long it will take to finish right-of-way acquisition.

So far, NGCP has completed the topographic survey of the submarine cable and cable terminal station sites, marine and hydrographic survey and the route survey for the overhead transmission lines. INQ