Chiong: Naga residents support power plants

CEBU, Philippines - Residents in the town of Naga, where the two 100-megawatt power plants are located are not against with the project and in fact were supportive of it.

This was the statement made by Naga Mayor Vakdenar Chiong during the inauguration of Korea Electric Power Corporation-SPC Power Corporation’s administrative building yesterday.

Chiong said that he is open for a dialogue with some environmentalists who are against the project.

“My office is open for them. I am open for a dialogue anytime. My constituents are supportive of this project. Ang mga dili taga-Naga man hinoon ang wala nisuporta ani nga proyekto. I don’t even know them, I’ve just read in the papers that they are against of the project,” Chiong said.

He added that he estimates that the municipal government can generate a revenue of between P20 million to P30 million annually for the payment of real property taxes alone by KSPC, whose property is more or less valued at around $20 billion.

Chiong said that this is aside from the employment that was generated because of the project wherein the management was able to hire 1,500 local workers, majority of them from Naga.

KSPC corporate secretary and legal counsel Guillermo Dabbay Jr. said that soon the problem of rotating brownouts in Cebu will be a thing of the past when the two power plants begin supplying 200 megawatts of electric power.

As of now, the two ageing coal-fired power plants built by the National Power Corporation in the 1970’s are providing bulk of Cebu’s baseload power.

Dabbay said that the additional 200mw baseload from the KSPC plants will ease the present crisis experienced by Cebu and power the local economy into the next decades.

Recognizing the global call to mitigate the impact of coal plants on the environment, Dabbay explained that the two plants use the modern circulating fluidized bed combustion technology that eliminates the harmful emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides.

He added that KSPC implemented an environment management plan even during the construction phase that complies with regulations of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to maintain the quality of the physical, biological and social environment.

In time with the inauguration, KSPC also donated multi-vitamins to the residents of barangays Colon, Tangke and North Poblacion in line with their corporate social responsibility.

Chiong added that that KSPC also donated 100 units of computers to the municipality.

“Despite the noise against our envisioned 200-mw coal-fired power plant generated by non-Nagahanons, we remain undaunted in our commitment to uplift the living conditions of local residents and the rest of Cebu,” Dabbay added.

Several residents made some streamers displayed outside the vicinity of the plant expressing their gratefulness on the jobs they gave to those in Naga and the income it provided for the municipal government. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP (FREEMAN NEWS)