“The planned CLUP sits well with the mayor’s
thrust of attracting more investors to put up more big-ticket projects in our
town,” a statement says from Sual Pro-Progress, a large group of residents who
support the construction of another power plant.
 |
| Mayor Dong Calugay |
In his recent State of the Municipality
Address, Mayor Calugay said that one of his top priorities is the formulation
of Sual’s CLUP considering the numerous offers of foreign and domestic
investors to put up power plants, factories, seaport, ship building facilities
and other industries worth billions of US dollars.
He said this would make it easier for
investors to come in as well as achieve for the municipality a balanced and
sustainable economic growth.
Among
the projects being pushed is the establishment of an international seaport and
additional power plant to generate jobs and additional revenues for the
residents and the municipal government.
“Isang napaka-halagang proyekto, hindi lang
para sa ating bayan, kundi para sa buong lalawigan ay ang planong pagpapagawa
ng Sual International Seaport, na maging daongan ng domestic at international
container ships,” Mayor Calugay said.
The mayor has created a regional technical
working group with the regional directors of the Philippine Ports Authority,
National Economic Development Authority, Bureau of Customs, Department of Environment & Natural Resources, and Department of
Transportation as members, to work for the realization of the seaport.
Second
power plant
Another project under consideration is the
construction of another coal-fired power plant proposed by Korean Electric
Power Corporation (KEPCO) worth two billion US dollars.
The said projects is expected to generate no
less than one thousand jobs for Sual residents and about P800 million additional
revenues annually for the municipality of Sual and the province.
It is recalled that Director General Charito
Plaza of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority supported the construction of
more power plants in Pangasinan to support the establishment of more economic
zones in the Pangasinan.
She said PEZA will come up with an economic zone map of the whole
country, which will be used by investors in establishing their businesses.
Lawyer Raul Lambino, who currently serves as Presidential Adviser
for Northern Luzon at the same time the administrator of the Cagayan Economic
Zone Authority, has been working for the establishment of an international
seaport “most likely in the municipality of Sual.”
As an important step, he said, it is necessary to make Pangasinan
an economic zone to make the province more attractive to both foreign and
domestic investors.
"It is regrettable that we do not have an economic zone in
Pangasinan. I wish our congressmen would sponsor a bill in Congress for the
establishment of a Pangasinan Special Economic Zone," he said.
He stressed the importance of developing an international seaport
in the province as a mode of transportation of goods and people.
He believes that Sual town is an ideal site, as it is where a coal-fired
power plant is located being operated by Team Energy of Japan.
Lambino told newsmen that South Korean Ambassador Han Dong-man
told him about their plan to put up another coal-fired power plant in Sual.
He said there is no problem about pollution because of the advent
of new coal technologies that greatly reduce if not eliminate greenhouse gas
emission.
Among these new technologies is
the ultra-super critical coal-fired power plant which at present is considered as a “High
Efficiency Low Emission (HELE) Technology” and as a “green technology”.
Lambino cited the case of Zhejiang City 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.
For its Sual power plant, KEPCO would be using the ultra-supercritical
technology which is the latest in coal power generation.
Sual has been declared by the
provincial government in November 2017 as the province’s Energy City to
fast-track the influx of investors.
With the construction of the second
power plant in Pangasinan, stable power supply and possibly lower electricity
rates are expected to entice more investors to put up industries and businesses
in Pangasinan. (P.R NEWS)
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