By: Karl R. Ocampo - 05:13 AM
January 16, 2018
Two government agencies have tied up
with a Filipino-French company to build a solar-powered plant in North Cotabato
that will address the province’s electricity problem and provide livelihood for
local farmers and fisherfolk.
Officials of the Department of
Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) met last week with Paris
Manila Technology Corporation (Pamatec) to discuss the construction of a
solar-powered plant in the province set to be implemented by the second quarter
of the year.
“Our target is to build a facility
with a solar farm that can house greenhouses underneath that can be used to
produce tomatoes for the sardines industry,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol
said in an interview with the Inquirer. Piñol is a former governor of North
Cotabato.
“We’ve been importing tomato paste, millions
of metric tons of it, from China. Why don’t we just produce it here? It will
generate income and livelihood. So when sardines are canned, the local industry
can source their tomatoes from these farms,” he added.
If successful, the agencies will
look at implementing the same project in other provinces such as Zamboanga,
Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi—islands that have insufficient power supply.
Funding for the project would come
from the government-owned and controlled corporation Philippine National Oil
Company (PNOC) under DOE, which is said to have an investment fund of P8
billion.
“The fund is readily available under
our COB (corporate operating budget). For this week, we are going to identify
the land where we will construct [our] first solar-powered plant. After that,
we will be conducting the feasibility study,” PNOC vice president for
operations Pedro Lite said in a phone interview.
“To generate profit, we will work as
an independent power supplier for cooperatives in the area,” he added.
Pamatec, for its part, will provide
the technology needed to construct the farm.
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources Director Ed Gongona, who was also present during the meeting, added
that aside from planting high-value crops, the plant will also house a fish
farm for aquaculture.
Gongona said the agency would be
breeding black carp, milkfish, shrimp and shellfish as a means to provide
additional income for fisherfolk.
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