JAPANESE firm Toyo Engineering Corp. (TEC) is set to complete its feasibility study on its plans to put up an integrated coco methyl-ester (CME) manufacturing plant in Ilocos region.

Carlos B. Carpio, deputy administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), said TEC is looking at the possibility of developing fresh or new areas where coconut can be planted to supply the feedstock requirement of the CME plant.

“The company is eyeing to supply Japan’s requirement for biodiesel,” said Carpio at the sidelines of the Bureau of Agricultural Research’s 20th anniversary held in Quezon City on Tuesday.

The PCA official earlier said TEC is initially planning to establish  600,000 hectares of coconut lands either in new areas in Region I (Ilocos Region) such as Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and La Union. Carpio said one alternative is to use the wide coastal areas of these provinces.

He noted that opening up new areas for coconut farms would mean a bigger investment of about P1 million per hectare, while using coastal areas would need only P100,000 per hectare. The venture could require anywhere from P60 billion to P600 billion.

The Japanese firm’s plan is to establish an integrated CME facility, the entire output of which will be shipped to Japan and supply its growing demand for biofuels by fuel-dependent industries, as well as the automotive industry.

At present, only one Filipino firm manufactures CME. Chemrez Inc. opened its new biodiesel plant that is capable of producing 60 million liters of biodiesel per year last year.

Japan is one of the four Asian countries planning to mandate the blending of CME with petro-diesel to reduce dependence on crude mineral oil. Its diesel requirement is 40 billion liters a year and plans for a CME blend of 5 percent.

THE World Bank (WB) Group may increase its lending assistance to the Philippines to as much as $1.7 billion if the government is able to continue its fiscal reforms that have resulted in economic gains for the country.

THE Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) will be pursuing the establishment of four big retirement communities in different areas in northern Luzon with minimum investments of at least $20 million each in partnership with the private sector.

JAPANESE firm Toyo Engineering Corp. (TEC) is set to complete its feasibility study on its plans to put up an integrated coco methyl-ester (CME) manufacturing plant in Ilocos region.

CONSUMERS are being short-changed from receiving quality electricity service, with the National Power Corp. (Napocor) collecting some 37.56 centavos per kilowatt-hour in ancillary service charges, according to the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on Monday deemed the Cyber Education (CyberEd) Project of the Department of Education (DepEd) as a “white elephant” that will only burden taxpayers.