TINDAHAN NATIN OUTLETS SELL LPG BRAND GASUL AT DISCOUNT

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated recently on Agham Road, Barangay Pag-asa, Quezon City the first Tindahan Natin convenience store in Metro Manila to sell liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at lower than market prices as part of the administration’s pro-poor program.

The discounted cooking gas will be sold to low-income families of the eight barangays.
The President launched the Tindahan Natin program last month as part of the government’s initiative to expand the delivery of basic goods and services to the poor.

Through the Tindahan Natin program, poor families are able to gain access to low-priced basic commodities such as rice, sugar, fortified noodles, sugar and cooking gas.

Petron Corporation, through chairman Nicasio Alcantara, has agreed to supply Tindahan Natin-accredited convenience stores with its LPG brand Gasul at discounted prices.

The Tindahan Natin will sell the 11-kg Gasul cylinder and 7-kg Gasoline at P510 and P340, respectively, compared to P530 and P370 in the regular outlets.

The retail prices of Gasulette in Tindahan Natin outlets is only P150 as against P170 in other stores, or P20 cheaper.

Alcantara said that eventually, discounted Gasul products will be available to the residents of 18 “hot spots” identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as among the “poorest of the poor” communities.

TAIWAN FIRM TO BUILD POWER PLANT IN SUBIC

ANTICIPATING a power supply crisis expected to hit Luzon by 2010, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) officials have announced the setting up of a 300-megawatt power plant in the country’s premier freeport.

SBMA Chairman Feliciano G. Salonga and Administrator/Chief Executive Officer Armand Arreza led the signing of the memorandum of understanding with Taiwan Cogeneration Corp. which will invest 300 million for the “eco-friendly” coal-fired thermal power plant.

“The power plant project is part of SBMA’s continuing efforts to provide efficient, stable and affordable power supply for locators,” Salonga said.

The Taiwanese firm will initially start with a feasibility project which would carefully detail the power requirements of freeport locators, and at the same time identify a suitable area where the plant will be constructed.

A subsidiary of Taiwan Power Corp.,Taiwan Cogen is a specialized cogeneration company, established in 1992 with a goal of assisting the industry by providing cogeneration technology to enhance energy cost and upgrade the power supply in Taiwan.

Taiwan Cogen officials expressed their intention to establish a power plant that would initially provide competitive and reliable power for investors inside the Subic Bay Industrial Park (SBIP) and eventually the whole freeport.

The power plant project will also allow Subic Enerzone to continue its operations as power distributor inside the freeport.

“Investors would become more globally competitive because of huge cost reduction in operating expenses as a result of the cheap power rates that the freeport has to offer after the completion of the power plant,” Arreza added.