Spanish biofuel firm planning $200-m investment in RP
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2007 | FOREIGN INVESTMENT
 A Spanish based biodiesel leader in Europe is planning to invest $200 million in the Philippines to develop at least 100,000 hectares of land into jatropha plantations to be used as feedstock for biofuel facilities in the country, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday.
DA Secretary Arthur Yap said Bionor Transformacion S.A., a well-established global multi-feedstock company, bared its plans to invest in the Philippines’ biofuel sector following the signing on Dec. 3 of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) at the Palacio Real el Pardo in Madrid between him and Alfonso Ausin, the president and CEO of the Spanish firm.
Witnessing the event were Antonio Pradera, the CEO of Inssec and President of CIE automative; DA Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat; Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra; and Eugenio Puyat II, the president and CEO of AME BioEnergy Corp., which was appointed as Bionor’s key integrator in the Philippines.
Officials of Bionor led by Ausin paid a courtesy call to President Arroyo on the sidelines of her state visit to Spain, along with Pradera; Augustin Garcia Razon, Executive Director, Bionor Transformacion SA; and Antonio Garcia Carrogio, General Director for Worldwide Jatropha Development-Bionor Group.
Also present during the courtesy call were Yap; Trade Secretary Peter Favila; Presss Secretary Ignacio Bunye; Mitra; Romulo Puyat; PADCC president Marriz Agbon; Puyat II; and Rolando Ramon C. Diaz, COO, AME BioEnergy Corporation.
AME is tasked to identify suitable jatropha plantation sites, consolidate lands, organize and train farm labor, use appropriate cultivation and agronomic practices, organize local support to install plantation infrastructure, and study the cost structure for production to determine and recommend to Bionor whether its planned jatropha development project is economically viable and internationally competitive.
Yap said that Bionor’s main thrust is to develop feedstock plantations worldwide using raw materials that do not compete with the food sector and do not lead to deforestation.
“This is why Bionor is tapping jatropha, a non-food crop, to support the requirements of its refineries,” Yap said.
Last January, President Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9367 or the Biofuels Law, which aims to ease the country’s dependence on imported, dollar-draining and pollution-generating energy sources by making the blending of ethanol and coco biodiesel in petroleum products mandatory.
RA 9367 also provides a package of incentives for investors in the biofuels sector, including exemptions from the payment of specific and value added taxes; and financing for those engaged in the production, handling, and transport of biofuel and biofuel feedstock. |
