Alsons Consolidated drops bioethanol project in Cagayan de Oro

Alcantara-led Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. (ACR) has abandoned its bioethanol project in Cagayan de Oro City due to what it claimed where ambiguities in the Biofuels Act and "unjustifiable delays" in the release of an environmental clearance from the Environment department. The listed company told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday it regrets having taken this move, as it also cited opposition to the project from the Catholic Church and nongovernment groups. The board of the listed company voted to cancel the project at a special meeting last Friday, where it also announced it was rushing to build a 200-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani province. The power plant, ACR said, "will not help solve the current power shortage in Mindanao caused by El Niño," noting that the plant would not start operating until late 2012 or early 2013 "in answer to the expected increase in power demand by that time." ACR Chairman and President Tomas I. Alcantara also told the board the company’s existing diesel plants — the 100-MW plant in Zamboanga and 55-MW plant in Alabel, Sarangani — were now running full time. During the meeting, Alacantara said ACR’s net profits almost tripled last year to P278.4 million from P100.2 million in the prior year. The results were more than three-quarters better than the P157.5-million target set by the firm last December. The board approved a cash dividend of a centavo per share to be paid on May 17 to stockholders of record as of April 20. ACR is into power and property development, mining and product distribution. Its other activities include bioethanol production, water distribution and construction. Its shares closed 2 centavos lower at 90 centavos apiece on Monday. — N.P. Aquino, GMANews.TV