The Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) of the Alsons Power Group has been given a certificate of compliance (COC) for its $2-billion environmental project.
SEC said they were issued a COC for the environmental project within the area of its 210-megawatt (MW) baseload coal-fired power plant.
The project targets the planting of 3.75 million seedlings covering 7, 500 hectares of land – bigger than the City of Manila and twice the size of Makati City.
The project started in 2012 and will span 15 years until 2027. It aims to protect the Siguil and Kamanga River watersheds in Maasim, Sarangani Province.
As of February this year, SEC has planted 1.29 million seedlings over 1, 208 hectares. To date, the company has planted in 2, 865.5 hectares covering five barangays: Amsipit, Bales, Kablacan, Lumatil, and Pananag.
Consultation for the project began in 2008 between the company and various stakeholders and ended with an Environmental Impact Assessment. This led to a tripartite memorandum of agreement (MOA) in March 2012 between the DENR and the Maasim Highlanders Farmers Association (MAHIFA), a people’s organization consisting mainly of the B’laan and T’boli indigenous communities.
The environmental has benefited over 450 families in the host communities and has provided livelihood to the residents through the watershed reforestation, and planting forest tree species and fruit trees. (Read: LOOK: Alsons Power gives education, livelihood programs to host communities)
In total, the SEC plant costs $570 million, the single largest investment in Sarangani Province and all of Region 12.