The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has approved the P6-billion agro-industrial economic zone of Ecofuel Land Development Inc. in Isabela province.
According to PEZA Director-General Lilia B. De Lima, the ecozone facility will cater to the bioethanol production of Green Future Innovations Inc. (GFII). The 24-hectare facility will be located in Sta. Filomena, San Mariano, Isabela, 30 kilometers from the Cauayan Airport.
Construction will commence in the first quarter of 2010, and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2011.
About 20,000 farmers will benefit directly from the project as suppliers of raw materials. Moreover, 1,500 workers will be employed during the construction of the plant facilities and 500 upon the start of operations.
GFII was established in 2007 and aims to produce 54 million liters of anhydrous ethanol and 85,000 megawatt hours of renewable electricity per year.
The company's annual production shall be displacing 54 million liters of imported fossil fuel. With world crude prices averaging $77 per barrel, the foreign exchange savings is estimated at $26 million per year.
Projects like this are keys to the success of the biofuels program, which aims to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate climate change and to develop local sources of fuel to provide energy security.
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