Groups still opposed to new site for bioethanol plant

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — A proposal by Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. to move its planned 24-hectare bioethanol processing plant away from two barangays has failed to appease groups opposed to the project. The Kagayan Watershed Alliance (Kawal) and Gising Barangay Movement (GBM) said the new site, a few kilometers away from the barangays, still threaten the watershed and would pollute two rivers. Last week, Alsons Consolidated officials decided on a new location, instead of barangays Bayanga and Mambuaya, after the project met stiff opposition from civil society groups and residents. Both Kawal and GBM have argued that the new location would still endanger two rivers, namely the Tagpangi River and the Iponan River. Mayor Constantino G. Jaraula has agreed with project proponents that the new location would be ideal for the bioethanol processing plant, which would empty its industrial waste in Tagpangi River, which is interconnected to Iponan River. City hall officials, however, said only "allowable wastes" should be drained into the river, although it did not specify what these wastes are. City hall said it would immediately revoke the firm’s permit once it violates environmental regulations. But GBM’s engineer, Henry A. Abrillo, said the change in location won’t make things better since the Tagpangi and Iponan rivers are within the city’s 3,000-hectare watershed zone. "Both rivers are interconnected in a fragile watershed system," he said. "Any huge industrial activity there will defile the river system and invite others to share the pollution. By merely relocating the plant, city hall is simply transferring the danger from Cagayan de Oro River to Iponan River and its inhabitants," he said. The groups have been asking Alsons Consolidated to build the plant in an industrial area such as the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental. However, project officials said the plant should be near resources such as cassava plantations. Building the plant in Phividec would make traffic in the city worse since hundreds of dump trucks with raw materials would pass through the main roads every day, company officials said during a consultation three weeks ago. Alsons Consolidated’s proposed plant is designed to produce 100,000 liters of bioethanol daily and is expected to be completed in two years. Target markets are petroleum distributors in the Visayas and Mindanao. — Penny Lyn P. Cunanan, BusinessWorld