BUTUAN CITY — With the continuing power crisis in Mindanao, big business groups and major industries in Northeastern and Northern Mindanao regions have called on the national government to come up with short-term and long-term solutions to address the energy shortfall in the southern island.

The association of wood industries and association of mining industries and agriculture group in the Caraga region and Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce spread all over the region also asked various electric cooperatives to help the state-owned National Power Corporation (Napocor) and National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in mitigating the current power crisis by way of proposing long-term solutions.

The business group and major business players in the region and this capital city expressed alarm following reports that the power problem in the island will last up to 2015.

“This is very alarming,” said a Chinese businessman and member of a business chamber here who requested anonymity.

The technical staff and engineers of Agusan del Norte Electric Cooperative (Aneco) led by General Manager Horacio T. Santos are currently doing their best to mitigate the power problem while also courting the Aboitiz Power Corporation to buy some 10 megawatts from their fossil fed-plant stationed at Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, it was learned.

Meanwhile, three business organizations in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental on Wednesday unanimously called on the government to come up with immediate and long-term solutions to address the Mindanao energy problem.

In a joint resolution, the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. (Oro Chamber), the PIE-MO Industries Association and the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Industries (Coci) said the energy shortfall has resulted in rotating blackouts and has gravely affected the operation of industries, including the micro, medium and small sized enterprises (MSMEs) which have already lost millions of pesos since January this year.

They said economic activities in the island, particularly the agriculture-rich Northern Mindanao region, are badly affected due to the current power crisis.

The group came up with short-term and long-term recommendations to help solve the current power crisis.

Among the recommendations they came up with are the release of funds by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) for the dredging of Pulangi IV, which can provide an additional 255 megawatts (MW) capacity, and for the full operation of the 100 MW Iligan Diesel Power Plant.

The group also recommended tax exemption or tax rebates for fuel purchases used for power generation for the duration of the crisis in Mindanao and for the NGCP to come up with a realistic forecast on the power shortage for the months of April to June this year so that distribution utilities can efficiently schedule their power curtailments.

The business group also asked the distribution utilities and grid-connected industries to enter into bilateral contracts for the purchase or lease of power barges (bunker fuel) rather than modular generation sets (diesel) that are more expensive. They also called for the lowering of tariffs in the purchase of generating sets.

The joint resolution was signed by Jerome Soldevilla, president of COCI; Augustus N. Adis, president of PIE-MO Industries Association; and Jaime Rafael U. Paguio, president of the Oro Chamber.