ILOILO CITY – The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) said the new quarry applicants for the third quarter this year are expected to increase Iloilo’s supply of sand and gravel.
Lawyer Arturo Cangrejo, officer-in-charge of PENRO, said 26 quarry applications were being processed.
“Fifteen were endorsed by the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board that can possibly start operation once signed (by Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor, Jr.) and we have 11 papers endorsed for processing in the Office of the Governor,” Cangrejo said on Tuesday.
He added that with the outset of the construction of the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project (JRMP) II in Calinog town, the province has to ensure enough quarry materials to support the project.
Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd., contractor of the JRMP II, earlier expressed its concerns on the need for sand and aggregates.
Cangrejo said the “peak” for the JRMP construction will be from 2020 to 2022.
He added the JRMP II will need more or less one million cubic meters of sand and gravel for the three-year construction period.
“For now, I think the quarry operators can still handle the need for the JRMP,” Cangrejo said.
As of July, the PENRO approved 72 sand and gravel; 18 industrial sand and gravel; and 58 quarry mountain quarry applications.
Cangrejo encouraged new applicants to venture into mountain quarrying.
“Our major source of sand and gravel are the rivers but we would like to shift to mountain quarries like basalt. These are good materials,” he said.
Cangrejo said rivers in the province are slowly becoming depleted of quarry materials.
Although the cost of mountain quarrying is “more expensive” than sourcing sand and gravel in rivers, Cangrejo said the province has to tap “unproductive” mountains.
He added the mountains of San Miguel and Cabatuan towns are ideal sources of ordinary earth, the mountains of Dumangas town and Passi City can provide limestones and the mountains of Anilao and northern Iloilo towns can be sources of basalt.(With a report from PNA/PN)
