Sual folk cite cordial ties between PH, South Korea

SUAL, Pangasinan –Residents in this coastal municipality hailed the cordial relationship between South Korea and the Philippines (PH) which, they said, should pave the way for the construction of another coal-fired power plant to prevent a looming power crisis in the country.

They cited the meeting between South Korea President Moon Jae-in and President Rodrigo Duterte during the recent Asean Summit in Manila as a welcome development for the people of Sual.

COAL POWER PLANT

During his bilateral meeting with President Moon, President Duterte urged South Korea to invest more in the Philippines, particularly in electronics and energy, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness and food processing.

President Moon responded by saying the Philippines is “very special” to South Korea.

“I wish to further strengthen our ties with the Philippines, our long-time friend,” Moon said.

Some local business leaders said this cordial and warm relationship between the two leaders should increase the chances for the establishment here of another state-of-the-art coal-fired power plant by a multi-national company from South Korea.

The company intends to invest roughly two-billion US dollars for the planned power facility that would produce 1,000 megawatts to help address the country’s growing demand for energy.

With the construction of another power plant, hundreds of residents here would be given jobs like the one provided by the existing Sual power plant, they said.

With the revenues to be collected from the second power plant, the municipal government would be able to pursue more projects like opening of the town hospital, development of an international seaport, construction of more farm-to-market roads and other infrastructure projects, livelihood opportunities for the barangay folk, construction of more classrooms, modernization of agriculture, development of housing project for informal dwellers, and many more, they added.

The municipality is expecting to collect hundreds of millions of pesos of real property and business taxes from the new power facility.

This first class town is endowed with a deep harbour that makes it uniquely ideal among all other towns in Pangasinan for the establishment of big-ticket investments like power generation, ship building and repair, international seaport, and refineries.

The provincial government headed by Gov. Amado I. Espino III has identified the municipality of Sual through a resolution passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in November last year as Pangasinan’s future “Energy City.”