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[av_heading heading=’Senate seeks to remove red tape in power projects ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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MANILA – The Senate approved on Monday a bill eliminating red tape in power projects.
Senators passed on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 1439, or the “Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) Act of 2017,” with 13 affirmatives votes and one negative vote.
“This legislation seeks to streamline the permitting process of new energy generation projects, thus cutting the length of the permitting process in half,” said Sherwin Gatchalian, energy committee chairman and one of the authors.
Coauthored by Juan Miguel Zubiri, the bill mandates the establishment of an EVOSS that would allow “single submission and synchronous processing of required data and information and provides a single decision making portal for the evaluation of new power generation projects.”
It shall also ensure “secure, accessible and paperless” processing of documentary requirements, assessment and payment of charges and fees, status updates and progress monitoring, not only for applicants but also for national and local government offices and entities involved in the permitting process of energy generation projects, the bill stated.
“The platform effectively eliminates repetitive form submission; the need to physically transport documents from one agency to another; and existing constraints that prevent multiple agencies from simultaneously processing applications,” Gatchalian said.
The bill also seeks to infuse competition into the energy sector that is seen to result in larger energy supply and cheaper generation costs.
“Based on my conversations with industry analysts and our own internal research, cutting down red tape could reduce consumer electricity prices by as much as P1 per kWh (kilowatt-hour),” said Gatchalian./PN
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