Project Leader Reports Successes in the Philippines

In March of this year, Travis Housley, vice president of Special Projects at Big Rivers Electric Corporation in Henderson, Kentucky, completed his 18th visit to the Philippines. The week-long trip took the team to sites in several villages, and Housley filed a full report of the team's activities and the progress of ongoing projects.

Recent accomplishments include the extension of power lines to threes village in Barangay Mahayahay in Mindanao. These villages are numbers 32, 33, and 34 to be energized since the first village received electricity in January of 2001. Some 70 homes will be electrified by this line extension.

Housley reported that a fourth village in the area should be energized within the next two months. When completed, the project will make electricity available to an additional thirty five homes. A fifth village in the region has been authorized for power lines, but funds and equipment have not yet been extended.

Work to energize five remote villages in the east Mindanao area of New Bataan has been hampered by heavy rains. Housley expects now, with the end of the rainy season, the project will be completed soon. The new power lines will energize about 350 houses.

Housley also detailed progress on a number of livelihood, education, and health projects underway in Mindanao. Among these is a highly successful house wiring loan program.

Between June 2007 and April 2009, the program made 415 loans, and there is a large backlog of applicants.

"I was pleased to learn we are experiencing a 90 percent repayment rate," he wrote. "DORECO, the electric coop we are currently working with, is dedicating several man-hours a month to our projects, which explains their success."

Housley agreed to extend an unlimited amount of funds for the program as long as collections remain at current levels.

Housley (center) with children at a computer-donation ceremony

For more information on NRECA International's work in the Philippines, visit the Philippines project page.

Learn more about NRECA International Foundation.