MARIVELES, Bataan, June 18 (PIA) – The touted clean coal power plant here will be spending nearly P9 million as part of its social responsibility program to reforest a vast non-watershed area in Mariveles with help from the Authority of the Freeport of Bataan (AFAB).
AFAB and GN Mariveles Coal Plant (GMCP) signed recently a public-private partnership agreement in joint effort to tree-plant 48 hectares of the highly industrial town’s non-watershed forest area.
The reforestation project will benefit all stakeholders and locators in the freeport since it will balance industrial and economic development with environmental protection, said AFAB Chairman Deogracias Custodio.
“The program will also help in mitigating global warming since forests facilitate biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide,” he said.
In a statement released to the press, AFAB will designate and allocate a site for the reforestation project, which is part of the corporate social responsibility program of both firms.
According to GMCP Senior Vice-President Ariel Punzalan, the administration of the power plant already allotted P8.750 million for the massive greening activity.
GMCP is also set to introduce a six-year reforestation development plan for the project.
For the launching of the environmental program, about 10,000 cashew and coriander seedlings will be planted this year on about 10 hectares of the designated non-watershed forest area, said GMCP Forestry Supervisor Maripi Zita Racelis.
GMCP is the owner of the 600-megawatt coal-fired power generating plant located in Mariveles that provides electricity to Bataan and to the Luzon grid.
Commended last year as posting the highest growth rate among investment promotion agencies in the country, the FAB is the emerging fashion manufacturing hub of the Philippines as it hosts a budding cluster of companies producing high-end brands of garments, apparel, shoes and accessories such as bags and jewelries, among others.
