P96-M wire undergrounding in city’s downtown breaks ground

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Undergrounding project or burying of utility wires and cables in Iloilo City’s heritage area broke ground this week.

Though official works are not expected to start until June 19, the Iloilo City government and MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), the city’s distribution utility, led the groundbreaking on Tuesday at the Sunburst Park.

The Underground Distribution System (UDS) Project covers the stretch of J.M. Basa Street, from the corner of Arroyo Street to the corner of Zamora Street, passing through the city’s heritage buildings and Plaza Libertad.

The kilometer-long project is divided into three phases, with Phase 1 entailing civil works, Phase 2 on electrical works, and Phase 3 on the removal of the existing overhead lines and structures.

Locational work will likewise be divided into three sections, with Section 1 from the corner of J.M. Basa and Arroyo Streets, and Sections 2 and 3 extending all the way to the corner of J.M. Basa and Zamora Streets.

The UDS Project will be funded solely by MORE Power to the tune of ₱96.4 million. The cost is expected to be passed on to customers in the next 30 years.

In one of the displays at the groundbreaking site, the power company cited the “hybrid” set-up with UDS at J.M. Basa Street and overhead poles in surrounding areas. It is less expensive than doing a full UDS, the latter being 2.7 times or 270 percent more expensive.

In relation to this project, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas in March approved City Regulation Ordinance No. 2023-006, requiring all public utility companies, including electric, cable television, and telephone and internet services, to place their wires and cables underground.

This ordinance covers all plaza complexes, Sunburst Park, Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Avenue (also known as Diversion Road), and all protected cultural and heritage properties in the city.

A ‘Task Force Alambre Oversight’ Committee was also created by the ordinance, with Treñas as chairperson, his Executive Assistant for Information Technology Francis Cruz as co-chairperson, the City Engineer’s Office as Vice-Chairperson, and city government offices and public utility companies in the electricity, telecommunications, internet, and cable television sectors as members.

MORE Power will be partnering with an American company, Fibernet Konstrukt Corporation (FKC), which specializes in Horizontal Directional Drilling Construction for underground duct and cable installations.

Horizontal Directional Drilling Construction is a technique for pipeline installation that involves boring a horizontal hole without the use of conventional trenching.

FKC’s profile with the employment portal JobStreet states that it specializes in Full Turn Key services (design, planning, and implementation) for telecommunications-related engineering works including Optical Distribution Network (ODN), fiber-to-the-building (FTTB) and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, and fiber network maintenance.

Cebu-based newspaper The Freeman reported on April 27 that FKC had also expressed interest in underground cabling in Cebu City’s South Road Properties.

The report also stated that the company has already completed about 10,000 of full underground fiber optical cable networks nationwide for telecommunications companies, but Daily Guardian could not verify this information after an extensive online search on the company.

In its Facebook page’s latest post on April 27, FKC said they are looking for personnel for Cebu, Negros, and Panay.

In a message prior to the groundbreaking, Treñas said the transfer of the cables underground would reduce the risk of weather-related accidents, and maximize the visual appeal of the structures, along J.M. Basa Street.

“The resilience of our city’s infrastructure will be greatly improved, providing uninterrupted power to homes, businesses, hospitals, and schools. This reliability will foster economic growth, attract new investments, and create a favorable environment for businesses to thrive,” the mayor said in his message.

MORE Power President Roel Castro said that while the project would be costly to them, they expect to incur greater returns through booming tourism in the downtown.

“The effect of this will be very, very minimal to the electricity rates of Iloilo but I think the value that this will give the city with more tourists coming, investors coming in everybody praising the city, I think will be offset by whatever cost there will be. As Bailey [Del Castillo] said, the birds can live joyfully, I mean not being afraid of being electrocuted, and the Balete tree can grow as big as they want,” said Castro.