New power plant to rise in Pangasinan town

SUAL, Pangasinan, Philippines – Another 600-megawatt (MW) power plant will be constructed here, making this town an energy city.

Negotiations for the $1-billion plant, to be put up by the Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., are being finalized, according Mayor Roberto Arcinue.

The coal-fired power plant will be built in Barangay Bacquioen and has undergone public hearings.

“People benefited from a power plant built in Barangay Pangascasan in 1995 and is being operated by TeaM Energy. Residents of Bacquioen welcomed the new power plant,” Arcinue said.

He said his constituents realized the advantages of hosting a power plant.

“They told me that when another project of this kind will be built, they wanted it in their area,” he added.

Barangay Bacquioen was the original proposed site for the 1,218-MW Sual coal-fired plant, but the project  was transferred to Pangascasan as it was opposed by the villagers.

“As years passed by, they saw the improvement in the lives of the residents and the village of Pangascasan,” Arcinue said.

The mayor said his town was blessed with deep waters, similar to that of the Subic Freeport, which is ideal for easy unloading of coal. He said the project operators could build a port near the power plant.

Arcinue said Sual was declared a special economic zone based on a law signed in 1995 by then President Fidel Ramos.

He said the signing of the memorandum of agreement for the new power plant would be held soon.

He said the project would benefit not only Sual and Pangasinan, but the entire country.