Korean companies fund biofuels plants construciton in RP
Posted on June 1st, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIP9Pav0q2I
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Korea’s Environment Plasma Co. Ltd., and a separate memorandum of agreement has also been signed by the agriculture agency with Eco Solutions Co. Ltd. also of Korea.
The agreements will see the foreign companies investing $600 million for the construction of biofuels plants and the development of idle lands in the Philippines.
A $425-million worth of investment will be shelled out by the Environment Plasma in the construction of a bioethanol plant with a boilerplate capacity of 150 million liters a year. Environment Plasma will develop lands into sugar cane plantations in Pampanga, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales and Bataan.
Eco Solutions will be investing as much as $175 million for a biofuels plant using jatropha as feedstock. Said plant would be designed to produce 60 million liters per year, which will developed lands in General Santos City and Sarangi for jatropha.
Under the agreement, the DA said that Environment Plasma will help in identifying sugar cane varieties for cultivation trials and share that knowledge it would derive from such activities. It will share the design engineering required to develop sugar cane plantations and supply the machines for the factory.
Eco Solutions will build oil mills and establish commercial jatropha plantations in the Philippines to spur and promote economic activities in the business of biofuels farming. The Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. (PADCC) is tasked to give the Koreans the necessary information to develop and complete biofuels projects. PADCC is the corporate arm of the DA.
Aside from the said agreements, a five-year scientific cooperation pact has also been forged between the Philippines and Korea, which will help promote and develop agricultural scientific and technical cooperation through mutual assistance in research and development (R&D), technology transfer, education and personnel training.
