Japanese eye solid waste power plant in Isabela

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Talks are underway for the establishment of a multibillion-peso, Japanese-funded solid waste power plant in Isabela amid the mounting waste disposal problem in the province.

The project, according to the provincial environment and natural resources office (PENRO), could generate additional power through the waste-to-energy process for the province, which partly hosts the Magat Dam hydroelectric power project.

PENRO chief Geronimo Cabaccan Jr. said Japanese investors and experts are now conducting validation studies as to the volume of solid waste that the province accumulates to ensure the sustainability and economic viability of the project as well as its impact to the environment.

“The solid waste power plant would help ease the problem of proper disposal of solid waste such as household waste, construction and demolition debris, sanitation residue and waste from streets, which will be utilized to run the plant,” he said.

Cabaccan, however, said the provincial government and the project proponents have yet to finalize details, including the manner by which the solid waste would be collected from the different towns and brought to the plant site.

At least 22 of the province’s 35 towns and two cities are expected to benefit from the project. 

The third largest province, Isabela, also the country’s leading corn producer and second to Nueva Ecija in palay yield, will also soon have its own paper mill to be built by a Korean-American consortium.

Gov. Faustino Dy III said the construction of the $100-million paper mill in Cauayan City’s former Monterey farm is expected to start in the first quarter of 2012.

The paper mill would utilize corn stalks and rice hay, usually treated as agriculture waste, to produce paper.

Isabela hosts a P740-million corn processing plant, said to be Asia’s largest, in Reina Mercedes town. The plant is owned and operated by the Mindanao Grains Processing Co. and Philippine Maize Federation Inc.

A P6-billion bio-ethanol plant is also being put up in San Mariano town by Green Future Innovation. The plant would be capable of producing some 100,000 liters of ethanol a day from sugarcane grown on an 11,000-hectare land in San Mariano.