Semirara board approves Calaca site as ecozone

US News Las Vegas

By U.S. News Agency / Asian

Semirara Mining Corp. said on Monday its board has approved plans to develop the areas of Balayan and Calaca in Batangas as an economic zone.

The site is the location of the 600-megawatt coal plant owned by its subsidiary Sem-Calaca Power Corp.

“This development will be under Republic Act No. 7916, as amended by Republic Act No. 8748, otherwise known as the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 and shall be pursued through another wholly-owned corporation to be later incorporated,” Semirara told the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The company envisions that as an ecozone, the site “will entice investors with high electricity requirements sourced from the Calaca plant to locate in Balayan and Calaca, Batangas.”

DMCI Power Corp. president Nestor Dadivas said they are still “working on the application” as an ecozone.

DMCI Power, the power arm of DMCI Holdings, parent firm of Semirara, is planning to expand the capacity of the Calaca coal plant.

Dadivas said the final investment decision on the Calaca plant expansion will depend on the power situation in Luzon.

“We are studying the power demand and supply situation in Luzon,” he said.

The Calaca facility consists of two 300-MW generating units and is primarily designed to run as a base-load plant. It is designed to utilize local coal from Semirara.

DMCI Holdings bought the Calaca plant in July 2009 with its bid price of P1.7 million.

DMCI Holdings owns 56 percent of Semirara, which has exclusive rights to explore, mine and develop the coal resources on Semirara Island in Caluya, Antique.