JORDAN, Guimaras – The island province of Guimaras has unveiled a new attraction to boost its bid of becoming the “bike paradise of the Philippines”.
It launched the “Green Spark Project” on Dec. 7 at the Look-out Point 17, Barangay M. Chavez, San Lorenzo town.
This project features bicycles made of bamboos or “Bambikes”, thereby also promoting environmental awareness and sustainable tourism.
The Green Spark launching was originally set in March but the coronavirus disease pandemic delayed it.
“We want to spark a green revolution in the tourism sector,” said Reagahn Alcantara of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) which initiated the project in cooperation with the provincial government of Guimaras, Guimaras Wind, Bambike Revolution Cycles and the local government units (LGUs) of San Lorenzo and Buenavista.
“We hope that through this Spark Project we could appreciate more the beauty of biking,” said Alcantara.
Green Spark aims to transform communities to green communities by generating sustainable livelihood while providing an ecotourism experience.
The project provides livelihood to local communities in the municipality of San Lorenzo through ecotourism and low-impact development using the local renewable resource bamboo.
“Bambike” is a social-enterprise that creates sustainable jobs in rural villages through hand crafted bamboo bikes.
Guimaras now offers Bambike Ecotours using these bamboo bikes to create unique and meaningful experiences off the beaten paths.
Likewise, “bambike” is also dedicated to growing the green economy and to sustain livelihood development./PN
