Sual welcomes another power plant

SUAL, Pangasinan – Residents here welcome the entry of another coal-fired power plant as it would mean hundreds of job opportunities and millions of pesos in additional annual revenues for the municipality.

Mayor Roberto Arcinue cited the previous public  hearings the municipal government held to take the pulse of the public over the proposed plan to put up another power plant in addition to the existing 1,200-megawatt Sual Coal-Fired Power Plant in barangay Pangascasan.

Arcinue said at least six consultation meetings, attended by fishermen, school teachers and officials, barangay leaders and residents, womenfolk, Sangguniang Bayan members, cooperatives, and local and national government employees, were conducted to discuss the establishment of a second power plant. The mayor said: “Nobody expressed opposition to the plant.”

Aside from providing hundreds of jobs and millions in extra revenues, a second power plant would ensure stable power supply that is conducive to economic progress and sustainable growth, he added.

“With stable and cheaper  electricity we will be able to invite more investors to put up projects and business ventures in Sual and anywhere else in Pangasinan that would mean more jobs and income for our people,” Mayor Arcinue stressed.

The mayor said he is currently holding talks with a multi-national company which expressed interest in putting up a state-of-the –art coal power plant in Sual that could produce 1,000 megawatts.

He said the proposed power plant project dovetails with his vision and that of the provincial government led by Gov. Amado Espino III to transform the municipality of Sual into an “Energy City.”

In November last year,  the Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed a resolution identifying the municipality of Sual as such, the energy hub of Pangasinan.

Endowed with a clean and deep blue sea and having been declared as a special economic zone, Sual has become an apple of the eye of several big-ticket investors ranging from power plant and petro-chemical operators to ship-repair and airport companies.