SUAL, Pangasinan-The
mayor of this town said the municipality expects to collect more than
P800-million a year in real property taxes once the $2-billion coal-fired power
plant to be constructed by a Korean company becomes operational.
Mayor Roberto Arcinue told newsmen
that aside from tax revenues, the plant with a 1,000-megawatt capacity would
generate more than a thousand jobs for the locals as well as reduce the cost of
electricity for households.
Arcinue said construction of
the plant by the Korean Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), the biggest power
supplier in South Korea, is expected to start middle of next year.
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BOOM TOWN: Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue envisions
Sual town as Pangasinan’s premier investment hub with the planned second power
plant, international seaport, oil depot, ship building and fish processing
facilities.
The project has already been
endorsed by lawyer Raul Lambino, presidential adviser for Northern Luzon
pursuant to the declaration by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan which declared this
thriving town as the future energy city of Pangasinan.
Arcinue said the revenue from
the plant will be used for livelihood assistance to residents, scholarship
grants, additional subsidies for farm implements and irrigation works as well
as fund the construction of additional farm-to-market roads, classrooms and
health centers.
The plant, which will be
operated by the Seoul-based company, will be the second coal-fired power plant
this western Pangasinan town will be hosting.
The mayor said that hosting
the first power plant, which was built in 1995, has brought progress to the
town. From a fifth class municipality, Sual was classified as a first class
municipality and has consistently ranked fourth among the 10 richest towns in
the country.
Arcinue said that aside from
assuring residents of a stable and adequate supply of electricity, another
power plant would encourage more business enterprises to set up branches here
or consider the town as primary location of their ventures.
He added that construction of
the second coal-fired power plant is in line with the Duterte government’s
thrust to ensure that the country has sufficient energy to avert another power
crisis owing to the rapid increase in population and the influx of investors.
“You
open the Philippines to all power players, I guarantee you the electricity will
become cheaper,” President Rodrigo Duterte said as he inaugurated
several coal-fired power plants in Visayas and Mindanao, the latest of which
was the 405-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental.
The President stressed that
there should be no problem with coal-powered plants contributing to pollution
because of the advent of new technologies used in this new coal-fired power
plant which is considered as “high efficiency (45 percent) low emission (HELE)”
that substantially cuts gas emission by 30 percent compared to its predecessors
that had efficiency rating of only 33 percent.
Lambino agreed with the President, adding that he has
been to the city of Zhejiang
in China where three coal-fired power plants are located “right in the heart of
the City” with a combined generating capacity of 14,000 megawatts. Zhejiang
City, he said, is the hub of the garment and textile industry in China.
Lambino said South Korean Ambassador Han Dong-Man told him about
their plan to put up another coal-fired power plant here.
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