For export to Singapore: Mt. Pinatubo sand

Philippine Daily Inquirer 12 Oct 11;

BOTOLAN, Zambales—Once the rains stop, sand spewed out by Mount Pinatubo that had silted waterways in Zambales will become a source of revenue when it is exported to Singapore, local officials said.

Mayor Nerma Yap said sand from the volcano’s eruptions in 1991, that had caused the siltation of Zambales’ river systems and flooding during storms, “will be finally put to good use.”

“In the past, this has been a big problem for us. But now, a solution has finally arrived,” she said.

Yap said Blue Max, a company backed by Korean and Chinese investors, will dredge the Bucao River here to extract the sand and ship it to buyers in Singapore.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) last month repaired an eroded portion of the Sto. Tomas River Megadike in San Felipe town to prevent the lahar-filled river from breaching the embankment and flooding farms and residential and commercial areas there.

The repair was carried out as the province reeled from the effects of Typhoon “Pedring,” which battered coastal areas here.

Carlos Zapata, president of Blue Max, said the venture is led by Filipino entrepreneurs “but the task is so big that we needed the cooperation of our [foreign partners].”

He said buyers in Singapore have been requesting for tests to determine sand quality. “We’re glad that they finally said yes. It was acceptable to them,” he said.

Zapata said the project would start with the dredging of the Bucao River. “If we’re successful, then we can help the community,” he said.

Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., a former public works secretary, said “sand is still flowing down the mountains” 20 years after Mt. Pinatubo erupted. He said at least 6.5 billion cubic meters of sand fell into the Sto. Tomas, Maloma and Bucao rivers.

Sand for reclamation projects in countries like Singapore usually come from Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, he said. Buyers of Zambales sand had to be foreigners because they have resources to ship the sand out, he said.

Blue Max, the governor said, could add P200 million in revenues a year to the province. “The material that made our lives miserable since 1991 will become manna from heaven,” he added.

Danilo Uykieng, regional director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said the Zambales government has an agreement with Blue Max to dredge the river and the program of work had been approved by the DPWH.

Uykieng said Zambales officials have started processing permits for the dredging operations. Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon

Zambales starts to sell Pinatubo sand
Sun.Star Pampanga 13 Oct 11;

IBA, Zambales -- The Provincial Government of Zambales will now be exporting Pinatubo sand, which had made the lives of residents here miserable for the past two decades as it brought floods especially during rainy season.

Zambales Governor Jun Ebdane announced this after signing a contract with BlueMax Tradelink Inc., a Filipino company with contacts in Singapore, for the dredging of the Bucao River in Botolan, Maculcol River in San Felipe, and Sto. Tomas River in San Marcelino.

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The Bucao and Sto. Tomas rivers are the major waterways that drain from Mt. Pinatubo.

Ebdane said the Provincial Government, as set in a resolution passed by the Provincial Board, will charge P10 as extraction fee for every cubic meter of sand collected from the dredging project.

“This translates to roughly P4 million in monthly revenue, based on the contract, which requires that 420,000 cubic meters of sand a month will be supplied to Singapore within the period of 18 months,” Ebdane said.

He added that aside from the extraction fee, local government units in Zambales will also have the opportunity under the project to collect other fees and taxes like mineral tax, and ore transport permit fee.

Ebdane said the Zambales government “would be more than willing to supply Singapore’s requirements, because it would rehabilitate local waterways and earn income for the province.”

“We have so much sand from Pinatubo, and this has caused severe siltation of rivers and has often resulted in severe flooding in several towns and barangays,” he said. “In the past, the government was paying for dredging companies to remove sand from the rivers. Now, the opposite is the case — those who will dredge our rivers will pay us instead.”

The governor added that the export of Pinatubo sand “is just one aspect of the project.”

He explained that because the Singapore clients would only need pure sand for their reclamation projects, the Pinatubo sand would have to be processed before exportation.

“As you know, the sand to be extracted from Bucao and the other two dredging sites are heavy in metallic elements, specifically magnetites or black sand. Now, these ‘waste’ from processing the Pinatubo sand will still be another source of revenue for Zambales,” Ebdane pointed out.

According to Clark Zapata, president of BlueMax, his company was commissioned by Singaporean firms to supply sand for use in their expansion projects.

“This is for the first contract alone,” Zapata said. “We are still in the negotiation stage for two more contracts that would bring the total extraction to 1.2 million cubic meters per month, for an extraction fee of about P12 million.” (Anthony Bayarong/Sunnex)