• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Much like urban cities in the country, overhead wires crisscrossing the streets and thoroughfares can be unsightly messy, and are often considered eyesores.
But starting next year, this may no longer be the case in highly urbanized Bacolod City, as Negros Power took the initiative of launching yesterday the first phase, which is a 1-kilometer Underground Distribution System (UDS) Project along the city’s major thoroughfare.
The project, which will kick off January next year, is aimed at placing all overhead wires underground, according to Negros Power president Roel Castro.
It will start from Lacson (5th Street) to Ramos (Benigno Aquino Drive) in Bacolod City, with a budget of about P80 million, Castro said.
It is expected to be completed before the Masskara Festival in October, he added.
It is part of a 6 kilometer UDS they are targeting to be implemented in Bacolod City, with the funding to be taken from P2 billion Capital Expenditures they had earmarked for all their projects in the distribution utility franchise area, Castro further said.
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Representative Greg Gasataya and Negros Occidental acting Governor Jeffrey Ferrer lauded the initiative of Negros Power, which they considered as historic and a milestone for highly urbanized Bacolod City.
Noting that majority of overhead wires came from telecommunication and cable companies, Benitez said suggested to the Sangguniang Panlungsod, where an ordinance is being deliberated, to bury all overhead wires underground, and to establish a coordinating body, which with the local government unit, coordinate between Negros Power, and telecommunication and cable companies, in the implementation of the underground cabling project.
Telecommunication and cable companies who will be part of the UDS, should also share in the cost, so that it can be laid thoroughly in the city, the mayor said.
Gasataya and Ferrer said it is a welcome development for Bacolod City.
Negros Power has started to fulfill its promise to deliver better and much improved services to its consumers on its franchise area, they said.
Engr. Bernard Bailey del Castilo, who has the overview of the project, said by removing the overhead lines, trees can go as high as they wish, and there is no need to worry about animal intrusions, such as geckos and bats, which have caused power outages.
A study of Negros Power showed that 15 percent of power outages comes from vegetation and calamities that hit the wires.
When we bring it underground, it will be savings for them, both Negros Power and telecommunication companies, as they may no longer be worried of calamities, or theft of wires, and it will make Bacolod City look like a “super city,” Benitez said.
Indeed, it is a very historic moment in the development of Bacolod toward a super city, he stressed.
Underground cabling systems have long been adapted by progressive cities.
For compact urban areas, having underground cabling will free up precious spaces, as compared to overhead wiring, where poles take up space that could have been used for roads or sidewalks.*
