Bataan approves 235-hectare reclamation project

The provincial council of Bataan presided by Vice Governor Cris Garcia passed a resolution approving a joint venture agreement with Premium Megastructures Inc. for the reclamation of 235 hectares of Mariveles Bay.

The resolution authorizes Gov. Joet Garcia to award the private-public -partnership project to Premium Megastructures.

Bataan PPP and Investment Center Investment Hub head Abul Khayr Alonto II said the next step is for PMI to comply with the requirements of the national government and the local government of Mariveles.

He said the company should submit the detailed engineering design of the project and other requirements before the issuance of the notice to proceed.

Alonto said PMI would be in charge of the reclamation works, while another industry player could develop the transshipment hub.

“That is why we put Future Transshipment Hub in the project title to make sure that the reclaimed land would be used for that purpose only,” he said.

The project is expected to become the largest transshipment hub in the Philippines that could accommodate Panamax vessels, he said.

Mariveles Bay, a large cove at the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula, is adjacent to Manila Bay on the east side.

Butch Gunio

Pse Index Closing

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It said with the approval and signing of the WESC, it would start deploying its resources for the wind resource assessment campaign to validate the wind regime in the covered area.

The company said it expected to declare the project’s commerciality within the provided five-year period in the pre-development stage of the service contract.

The project is expected to generate and deliver power energy to the grid ranging from 140 to 168 megawatts based on the 4-WTG model simulation done by a foreign third-party consultant.

Basic Energy said with the addition of the Balayan WESC to the existing Mabini and Panay WESCs, its total wind portfolio would increase to about 350 to 400 MW.

The company said it was expecting to secure the service contracts for other renewable energy projects as it builds up a robust renewable energy project portfolio. Jenniffer B. Austria

By Jenniffer B. Austria

PROPERTY developer Megaworld Corp. said Friday it raised P3.63 billion from an overnight placement of shares in real estate investment trust company MREIT Inc.

Megaworld said it sold 279.4 million shares in MREIT at P13 apiece, representing a 7.1-percent discount to MREIT’s closing price of P14 Thursday.

Megaworld said the transaction was upsized by 10 percent from 254 million to 279.4 million shares on strong demand from domestic and international long-only investors.

The property firm said the transaction increased MREIT’s free float to provide headroom for future acquisition of assets via property-for-share swap.

MEAL PACKS. More than 130 Security Bank employee volunteers join the ‘Hope Begins with a Meal Food Packing’ activity to help marginalized communities in Visayas with formulated meal packs. The volunteers prepared 6,048 meals, consisting of formulated, ready-to-cook rice-soy for over 30,000 impoverished individuals in the twoday event. Security Bank teamed up with International Care Ministries and Rise Against to Hunger Philippines for the activity.