By Amy R. Remo
MANILA, Philippines—The Alcantara Group’s Power subsidiary, Conal Holdings Corp., plans to invest around $50 million in a bioethanol plant in Cagayan de Oro.
According to Luis R. Ymson Jr., Chief Financial Officer of parent firm Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc., the proposed plant would have a rated capacity of 100,000 liters a day and will use as feedstock cassava chips from the province and nearby Bukidnon.
At this rate, Alsons chair and president Tomas I. Alcantara said the company would require up to 10,000 hectares of land planted to cassava.
Alcantara noted that despite the drop in the prices of petroleum products from last year’s high of $147 a barrel, bioethanol production remains viable.
According to Alcantara, the “clamor for alternative fuels is stronger than ever” and “the law requires that by this year, a portion of fuel for vehicles must be blended with biofuels.”
Under the Biofuels Act of 2006, oil companies are mandated to pre-blend gasoline with 5 percent ethanol starting this year, rising to 10 percent by 2011.
He added that the company was already in the advanced stages of completing a feasibility study on the production of biofuel using cassava chips.
In a related development, Ymson disclosed that Alsons Consolidated expects to post a modest growth in its revenues this year to P2.64 billion from P2.626 billion last year.
Also, the company expects to record a higher net income of P610 million in 2009 from a year-ago figure of P482 million, due mainly to planned cost efficiencies, Ymson said.
Aside from energy and power, the Alsons group has major investments in property development, aquaculture and agribusiness, timber products and mining.
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