Chinese firm bags P424-M deal to repair TransCo towers
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
Chinese firm Xian Electric Engineering Co. bagged the P424.4 million contract for the restoration of 42 steel towers of the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) toppled due to the onslaught of super typhoon Milenyo in September.
Xian’s tender was chosen via a competitive bidding undertaken to cover supply, delivery and installation for the replacement of the collapsed towers.
"We expect Xian to finish the repair and restoration works on 17 towers of Tayabas-Naga, 21 towers of Kalayaan-Gumaca-Labo-Naga, 3 towers of Bacon-Manito-Daraga, and one tower of Leyte-Luzon lines by June 30, 2007, just in time for the start of the rainy season," TransCo president and CEO Arthur N. Aguilar said during the signing of the turnkey agreement.
At the formal contract awarding, Xian was represented by its deputy general manager Zhang Shi Wen and country manager Ma Ying Hai. TransCo, on the other hand, takes representation with Aguilar and VP for Administration, Human Resources and Finance Jules S. Alcantara.
"Xian won in the bidding for both contract packages. The award of contracts was approved and confirmed by the TransCo Board on December 21 last year," the transmission firm noted.
The Special Bids and Awards Committee for the project has divided the undertaking into Package A; to cover the Tayabas-Naga line; and Package B; for the Kalayaan-Gumaca-Labo-Naga, Bacman-Daraga and Leyte-Luzon lines.
TransCo reported that massive damages were recorded along the stretch of Tayabas-Naga 500-kilovolt (kV), Kalayaan-Gumaca-Labo-Naga, Bacman-Daraga 230-kV, and Leyte-Luzon 350-kV transmission lines.
Aguilar viewed the conclusion of the deal with Xian as "a major boost to our efforts to finally normalize the delivery of electricity in the areas badly hit by the typhoon."
The company chief executive related that power supply in the worst-affected areas were just temporarily restored with the use of "bypass" or alternative lines to connect the substations to the main grid.
These facilities though, Aguilar noted, may not last long enough to underpin the continuous flow of electricity in the affected domains.
"We were able to reconnect Bicol to the Luzon Grid then using temporary ‘bypass lines’ or alternate lines to connect to the substation but transmission capacity was very limited," Aguilar emphasized.
posted by philpower @ 8:33 AM,
