LNG power plant to rise soon in town in Quezon

LUCENA CITY—A liquefied natural gas (LNG) combined cycle power plant along the coast of Lamon Bay in Atimonan, Quezon, will start construction this year and is expected to enhance local employment and boost revenues for the province.

Atimonan Mayor Jose Mendoza said the plant will probably be built in the last quarter of the year but all permits from the barangay, municipal and provincial councils have already been secured so the site, most of them agricultural land, could be officially classified as “industrial.”

He said the LNG plant project, to be built on a 80-hectare land in Barangay Villa Ibaba, is likely to generate anywhere from 1,200 to 1,750 megawatts.

Mendoza said the plant would help supply the power and transport sector’s requirements because it is cleaner and cheaper.

Janet Geneblazo-Bueno, Quezon public information officer, said the plant would create 1,000 to 2,000 jobs for local construction workers.

The proponents are John Quirk, senior vice president and project manager of Meralco PowerGen and Kenji Takahashi, representative of Japan-based Chubu Electric Power.

Gov. David Suarez said the LNG plant, along with the proposed new P11.92-billion toll road project from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Lucena City, will spur growth in the province.

Earlier, he said among other conditions that the provincial government would ask the plant operator to “diligently pay taxes to the local government.”