PASAY CITY -- With no less than President Duterte himself giving marching orders to concerned government agencies to ensure the full implementation of the streamlined permitting process provided under the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) Act, Senator Win Gatchalian said this shows the continuing commitment of the country’s Chief Executive to fight red tape.
The principal author of the law in the Senate thanked the President for recognizing that EVOSS is an important measure to fight red tape in the energy sector to spur the construction of new power plants.
The signing of Executive Order No. 143, which paved for the creation of the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop Task Group (ETG), will continue the work of the steering committee in terms of reducing the number of processes that investors will have to go through before putting up a plant. The term of the EVOSS steering committee expired last March.
Industry players have said that the recent rotational power outages in Luzon could have been avoided if only there were more power plants available to compensate for the unplanned and forced outages.
It can be recalled that the President issued a directive to officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to ensure that no power outages will happen again.
“Red tape is the problem. Ask any potential investor in the electric power industry. The law was meticulously crafted to reduce the number of processes and reduce the number of days in putting up new energy projects,” Gatchalian said.
“Wala nang dahilan para manatiling nakabinbin ang mga aplikasyon para sa mga bagong proyekto lalo na sa kasalukuyang panahon na kailangang kailangan natin ang partisipasyon ng mga gustong mamuhunan at masiguro ang suplay sa sektor ng enerhiya,” the senator added.
“I’m hoping that this time, the ETG will put a concrete timetable for the full implementation of the law and operate the soonest possible time. Fighting red tape will provide a new and competitive environment for investors and address the country’s problem on energy supply,” he concluded. (OSWG)
