Sual gears up to become richest municipality in PH

SUAL, Pangasinan – This fast-growing town would likely pole vault to the top spot in the list of richest municipalities if the plan to put up another power plant pushes through.

According to a report released by the Commission on Audit (COA), the municipality of Sual maintained its position as the second richest municipality in the country with assets amounting to P2.037 billion.

Only Sual - among Pangasinan’s 44 municipalities – made it to COA’s top ten richest towns, besting such other first class towns as the capital town of Lingayen, Bayambang, Mangaldan, Malasiqui, Binmaley, and Calasiao.

            Among those who welcomed the news was Liga President Ramon Sabido who felt optimistic that the municipality might be able to go up even to the number one spot if the plan to put up another power plant in our town becomes a reality.

It is recalled that revenues generated from the operation of the Sual Power Plant and from the hundreds of fish cages in Sual Bay contribute to the town’s stable and strong financial performance.

“This enabled Sual to jump up from fifth class to first class municipality,” he said.

With the  real property and business taxes collected from the power plant the municipal government has been able to pursue various projects such as the construction of a new municipal hall, legislative building, sports center, police headquarters, health facilities, multi-purpose covered courts, day care and health centers in all the barangays, school buildings, concreted roads, municipal wharf and many more.

The municipality also bought multi-purpose vehicles for every barangay, police patrol cars, and ambulances.

In various surveys conducted by prospective investors, a majority of the people of Sual welcome the operation of a second coal-fired power plant because of the huge benefits it will provide to the residents and the municipality.

These include thousands of jobs, more scholarship grants, continuous power supply to the municipality, cheaper electricity, and millions of pesos in revenues estimated to be in the vicinity of P800 million annually.

             The project which cost roughly two billion US dollars would be using the latest technology in operating the coal-fired power plant to address concerns about pollution.

            Sual 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.” (P.R NEWS)