Friday, October 06, 2006 Land Bank extends P613M to Western Visayas SMEs
THE Land Bank of the Philippines reported that around 251 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Western Visayas were extended financial assistance to the tune of P613 million, said Land Bank Vice President and Regional Head Ruel Z. Romarate.
Romarate said their June 2006 report showed that 137 SMEs extended financial assistance are in Panay while 114 SMEs are based in Negros Occidental.
He said the Land Bank is pushing productivity up in the countryside through SMEs. This is one of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ten point-agenda, he added.
To further spur countryside development, Land Bank officials "work closely with their identified clients or mandated clients which we call development partners."
These other developmental partners, he said, are the cooperatives, the countryside financial institutions and the local government units.
Around P493.092 million were extended to 169 cooperatives in Panay Island and Negros Occidental. For financial institutions, the Land Bank extended financial assistance to 32 financial institutions to the tune of P126.335 million.
The LBP Region 6 head further said that of the 139 cities, municipalities, and provinces in the region, Land Bank was able to give financial assistance to 79 or 57 percent of the total local governments in the amount of P1.1 billion.
It was further learned during the press conference that the LBP has granted P400 million loan for San Carlos Bioenergy Inc., which will be used to partially finance the implementation of the Integrated Ethanol Distillery and Power Cogenaration Plant project in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
Land Bank head for the Visayas Branches Group first vice president Maris Yusay said "with this project co-financed by LandBank, we are helping provide a viable and even better alternative in the form of an efficient and environment-friendly energy source."
The plant is capable of producing 100,000 liters per day of anhydrous fuel-grade ethanol and 8 MV of electricity. Total feedstock requirement of the plant is 1,500 MT of sugarcane per day. It will be built within a 25-hectare property in the San Carlos Agro-Industrial Economic Zone in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental and is expected to be operational by November 2008. (Philippine Information Agency)
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