Group cites excellent ties between South Korea, PH

SUAL, Pangasinan – A development-oriented group here hailed the move taken by the Senate which lauded South Korea for its important role in Philippine development and economic progress.

Sual Pro-Progress, an aggrupation of farmers, womenfolk, students, employees and professionals, described Resolution 159 recently passed by the Senate as “a fitting recognition of the strong excellent ties between the Philippines and South Korea.”

Authored by Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, the resolution said that the bilateral relations between the two countries has been tested by history and is a relationship “forged in blood,” with more than 7,400 Filipino soldiers fighting alongside Korean troops during the Korean War.

Coal Power Plant.

 It “encompasses extensive cooperation in many fields, including trade and investments, infrastructure development, agriculture, tourism, scientific and technological cooperation, energy cooperation, rural development, health and sanitation, defense and security, disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation, and people-to-people exchanges.”

The group cited in particular the planned 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant proposed to be built in Sual by Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) which is the biggest power producer in South Korea.

Worth about two billion US dollars, the proposed power plant would utilize the latest in coal technology to do away with pollution, called the ultra-super critical technology which today is the option of choice for most coal-fired power stations.

Energy experts describe this latest coal technology as the most-advanced of its kind in addressing green gas emissions and global warming.

This technology is now commonly used in the USA, Japan, South Korea, Germany and other countries.

According to the experts, by 2013 there were 165 operational ultra-supercritical power plants in operation around the world, together with 645 supercritical units and more than 7880 subcritical units.

Today these ultra-supercritical plants are becoming standard in many regions, according to Power Engineering International experts.

            Sual Pro-progress said it supports the construction of a second power plant in the locality as it provides thousands of jobs for the residents and roughly P800 million additional revenues to be shared by the province, the municipality of Sual, and the barangay where the plant would be built.

They added that Sual residents shall be given discounted rates on their electric bills and the municipality of Sual shall be guaranteed continuous power supply.

Additional revenues shall be provided for livelihood assistance to local folk, more scholarship grants, additional subsidies to local farmers in terms of free certified seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation; additional free medicines and other services to senior citizens, womenfolk and other sectors of the community, expanded health care delivery, construction of more farm-to-market roads, classrooms and other infrastructure projects;

With more jobs for the residents and higher purchasing power, they pointed out that the local economy would grow faster and bigger as more big investors as well as small and medium scale entrepreneurs would build their businesses in Sual.

The assurance of adequate and stable supply electricity would encourage more companies to set up branches or consider Sual as primary location of their business ventures, they said (P.R News).