DAGUPAN CITY –Director General Charito B. Plaza of
the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) recently told newsmen here that
construction of more power plants, including another coal-fired power plant in
the town of Sual, is welcome in line with the government’s plan to create a
mega-economic zone in Pangasinan.
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PEZA Director General Charito Plaza bares plan to put up a mega-economic
zone in Pangasinan.
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Plaza said big foreign companies are eyeing Pangasinan for their expansion and conversion of the province into a mega-economic zone will open this possibility.
This move requires stable and cheaper supply of
power to sustain the operation of the industries to be put up provided the
power plants to be constructed conform with environmental standards, she said.
Plaza led the opening program of the 2017 Luzon
Economic Zone Summit for Pangasinan and La Union held recently in this city.
Among
the guests were Baguio City Economic Zone Administrator lawyer Rene Joey S.
Mipa, 2nd District Rep. Leopoldo N. Bataoil, Sual Mayor
Roberto Arcinue and Pozorrubio Mayor Ernesto Go.
Mayor Arcinue happily welcomed this develop
ment, adding
that he is currently holding talks with a multi-national company based in South
Korea for the construction of another coal-fired power plant in Sual worth US$2 billion.
Intended to generate 1,000 megawatts, the new power
plant shall use the latest technology called the ultra-super critical power
generating technology, he said.
GreenFacts,
a worldwide advocate of health and environment, said ultra-supercritical (USC)
power plants operate at temperatures and pressures above the critical point of
water, that is above the temperature and pressure at which the liquid and gas
phases of water coexist in equilibrium, at which point there is no difference
between water gas and liquid water. This results in higher efficiencies – above
45%.
USC
power plants requires less coal per
megawatt-hour, leading to lower emissions (including carbon dioxide and
mercury), higher efficiency and lower fuel costs per megawatt.
Special Economic Zone
Mayor Arcinue is optimistic that more big-time investors
would invest in Sual after it was declared by law as special economic zone
through then President Fidel Ramos in 1995.
Under the statute,
business establishments operating within the ecozones are entitled to fiscal
incentives, including tax credits for exporters using local materials.
The law also provides
that except for real property taxes, “no taxes, local
and national, shall be imposed on business establishments operating within the
ECOZONE.”
In his welcome address during the send-off rites
for Vietnamese fishermen attended by President Duterte on November 29, Arcinue
identified at least five big-ticket investment projects planned for Sual town.
Among these are the two-billion US dollars coal-fired
power plant, international seaport, shipbuilding and repair, oil depot, and Tourism
Park.
The mayor said that these projects would mean
thousands of jobs for Sual residents and billions of revenues for the province
and the municipality.
Sual is the host of the 1,218-megawatt Sual Power
Plant, biggest coal-fired power plant in the country.
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