Planned seaport, power plant in Sual pushed

SUAL, Pangasinan-Residents here welcomed the support given by a  Malacanang official to the planned international seaport and a second power plant to be put up by foreign and domestic investors in the town of Sual.
Lawyer Raul Lambino, Presidential Adviser for Northern Luzon, recently told newsmen that he would push 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.

PRESIDENTIAL Adviser for Northern Luzon Raul Lambino briefs media on his plans for the region and Pangasinan.

"It is regrettable that we do not have an economic zone in Pangasinan. I wish our congressmen would push hard in Congress for the establishment of a Pangasinan Special Economic Zone," he said.Lambino concurrently serves as administrator and chief executive officer of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).He stressed the importance of developing an international seaport in the province as a mode of transportation of goods and people.

"This is my thrust. This is not to interfere with the usual operation of the agencies of bureaucracy in place but to help the President get accurate information, what the agencies ranging from those in charge of investments, infra-projects, social services, agrarian reform, and others, are doing,” Lambino said in an interview on Thursday.

“It could possibly be in Sual town and will cover Sual, Alaminos City, Bani, Anda, Bolinao or the whole Western Pangasinan, and include the towns of Labrador, Lingayen and Binmaley of the second district,” he added.

He ssaid that Sual town is an ideal site, as it is where a coal-fired power plant is located.

Mayor Liseldo “Dong” Calugay has created a technical working group to pursue efforts with the Philippine Ports Authority and other related agencies in a bid to put up  an international seaport in Sual. The town is endowed with a wide, deep and clean harbor that is ideal for an international seaport.

On the proposed second power plant in Sual, Mayor Calugay said that he will allow the project for as long as it is supported by the majority of the residents.

                                    2^nd Power Plant

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.

It was reported that Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) wants to invest some two billion US dollars for a modern coal-fired power plant in Sual. The proposed plant has a generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts, which would be a big help in addressing the mounting problem on power supply in the country.

The project is expected to create thousands of jobs for the residents apart from generating millions of pesos in annual revenues for the province and the municipality, including the barangay where it would be located.

KEPCO would be using the ultra-supercritical technology which is the latest in coal power generation that considerably reduces green gas emission and do away with the problem on pollution.   (P.R NEWS)