Bacnotan beefs up businesses to boost growth

MANILA, Philippines - Bacnotan Consolidated Industries Inc. (BCII) will aggressively beef up its property, power and education businesses in its bid to enhance shareholder value and boost growth. 

During the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting Tuesday, BCII president Ramon R. Del Rosario Jr. said the group remains committed to “making affordable to more Filipinos attractive and decent homes in wholesome communities, high quality education and reliable power and renewable energy sources.”

He said the group is seeking to become the country’s largest producer of wind energy through its subsidiary Trans-Asia Oil & Energy Development Corp., which is looking at putting up 20 wind power facilities in several sites including Guimaras, Cagayan and Aklan. These projects have a combined potential capacity of 350 million megawatts.

Trans-Asia, the energy arm of holding firm Philippine Investment Management Inc. (Phinma), earlier bagged 10 wind energy service contracts with the Department of Energy.

Del Rosario said the Guimaras project, which will involve the construction of a 54-MW wind power facility, will be implemented in two phases scheduled to be operational by 2012.

A wind farm usually has a gestation period of six years: Two years for prefeasibility study, another year for the feasibility-study stage and three years to construct the facility.

Trans-Asia president and former Energy Secretary Francisco Viray earlier said they considering investing nearly $1 billion to put up wind-power plants in Luzon and the Visayas in line with its foray into the renewable energy sector.

For its real estate business, Phinma Properties Inc. is budgeting P1.5 billion this year for land development and acquisition, 50 percent higher than the P1 billion spent last year.

Phinma Properties president Willie J. Uy said the company will start construction of three projects in the second half of the year which are expected to be completed in 18 months. The company will build a second tower of Fountain Breeze, a residential condominium in Sucat, Parañaque.

Uy said plans also include the development of another residential project in the South (Paranaque, Muntinlupa, Alabang or Bicutan).