ISABEL,
Leyte, Aug. 28 -- A Japanese firm will build a
70-megawatt diesel power plant inside the 425-hectare Leyte Industrial
Development Estate (LIDE) in this town, an official confirmed Sunday.
LIDE
Management Corporation General Manager Eddie Agustin said that Japanese firm
Marubeni Corporation will need about two hectares to build the facility. The
official declined to disclose total investments.
“Survey
of the area is on-going and they are targeting to start supplying power by
September next year,” Agustin said.
Marubeni's
construction of a power plant will help ensure power stability for two major
LIDE locators – Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corporation (PhilPhos) and
Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation (PASAR).
PhilPhos
is the country’s leading producer of phosphatic fertilizer with a rated
capacity of 1.17 million metric tons every year.
PASAR, on
the other hand, owns and operates the only copper smelter and refinery in the
country. Its primary product is the electrolytic copper cathodes, the raw
material used for manufacturing various kinds of electric cables, telecommunication
wires, copper shapes and copper-alloy products.
Both
firms directly get their power supply needs from the National Grid Corporation
of the Philippines, sourced from the nearby Leyte Geothermal Power Plant.
“We will
now have an alternative energy source with the new power plant inside LIDE.
Operations will not be disrupted in case of power shutdown caused by natural
calamities,” Agustin told reporters.
Located
in this town, LIDE is owned by the National Development Company, a
government-owned and -controlled corporation attached to the Department of
Trade and Industry. The property was established in November 1979 through
Letter of Instruction No. 962 to spur economic development in Eastern Visayas
and as prime site for heavy industries.
LIDE was
declared a Special Economic Zone under Republic Act (RA) 7195 as amended by RA
8748 or the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995. (RTA/PNA)
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