Imagining Mindanao as an industrial power

In last week’s column, I touched on key agribusiness areas as a driver for industrial growth in Mindanao, noting how renewed corporate interest in the downstream coconut processing industry generates growth.

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In this column, I would like to focus on Mindanao’s energy and minerals sector because these sectors, both separately and together, can fuel the island’s industrial growth.

Time was when the need for a strong and stable power sector was to banish the days of rotating brownouts due to a lack of supply. In recent years, we have seen an increase in available power, but these need to be increased to meet growing demand. Today, we can browse through the Department of Energy website to see numerous proposed power projects in Mindanao’s pipeline. These can sustain the growth of available energy needed to fuel two outcomes.