A US$100 – $200 MILLION JATHROPA INVESTMENT IN PALAWAN

Officials of two Spanish firms arrived in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines, last Febraury 1 to scout for possible areas where they can establish around US$100 – 200 million jathropa plantation and bio-diesel production plant in the province of Palawan.


The Officials of Bionor Transformacion and Abengoa Bionergy arrived after negotiations with Palawan 2nd District Representatives Abraham Kahlil B. Mitra when he joined with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s trip to Madrid Spain recently.


Mitra said, “We are happy to announce that in just two months time since we went to Madrid and talked to some investors there, they have come already. They are planning to put up a 100 thousand hectare jathropa plantation here in Palawan. This is a big investment so this will convert to more income to the province”.


He also said that the project will have an initial investment of around US$200 million although an official of Bionor said that the 100 thousand hectare plantation “ in theory merits more or less somewhere around 1 hundred million dollar”.




Agustin Garcia Razon, a member of Bionor Strategic Committee which is in charge of the company’s world-wide investment, said an agreement was reached with the Philippines government for the implementation of the project after close negotiation with them. One factor that lead them to choose the Philippines particularly the province of Palawan is its being safe from natural calamities.


He also said that among other things they considered are security and infrastructure in the Province. “We have looked into that matter that’s why we considered Palawan because we really feel safe here and secondly, we are assessing a bit the infrastructure to see what is needed to be able to move the project ahead with regards to logistics”.