Malampaya gas project wins int’l award

The Philippines’ Malampaya Natural Gas Project was one of the ten recipients of the World Business Summit Award for Sustainable Development Part-nerships sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program and the International Chamber of Commerce in Johannesburg, South Africa in a meeting held concurrently with the Plenary Meeting of the United Nations World Summit on Social Development. Environment Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez, head of the Philippine delegation to the Summit, received the award in behalf of the stakeholders in the Malampaya Deep Water Gas to Power Project, along with Shell Philippines Deputy Managing Director Facundo Roco.

The ten winners were chosen from more than 120 partnerships from 37 countries who submitted their respective candidates for the award. The judges used 17 indicators of sustainable development as their criteria for the awards. Among them were transparency, resource management, relations with customers and public-private partnerships. The award was in recognition for Malampaya’s effective multi-stakeholders partner-ships between the Philippine government, Shell Philip-pine Exploration and other non-government enterprises who ensured that the natural gas project would not harm the national environment and the communities in the area.

The Malampaya project required the drawing of natural gas a kilometer below sea level. To do this, a 500-kilometer pipeline had to be constructed across South China sea and the coasts of Mindoro island and Batangas province. Launched last year, the Malampaya project marked the start of the country’s natural gas industry. It will take time planning the effort before it becomes fully operational, but when that happens, it will supply thirty percent of all the country’s energy requirements. This means the country will be less dependent on imported fossil fuels.

During the awards, Secretary Alvarez spoke about how the communities had been consulted and how they cooperated with the government on the project. Alvarez commented that it was the project’s "sustainable partnership" that clinched the award for the Philippines. "It would have been cheaper," he said, "to have built the pipelines inland. But it would have harmed Mindoro’s rich biodiversity." So the pipes were laid in the sea. In the sea, they evaded coral reefs.

Even the New People’s Army operating in Mindoro were consulted. They understood what the government was trying to do – help the community and preserve the environment. They, too, cooperated.