Maguindanao can be next Dubai due to its gas deposits, official says
Economic News • 06:50 AM Sat Aug 11, 2018
353
By:
Ferdinandh Cabrera
Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu demonstrate how a water can be turned into a cooking gas. (FC)
PANDAG,
Maguindanao – Investors interested in oil gas exploration have
started coming to Maguindanao and an energy plant will soon rise in the
province, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu today said.
Mangudadatu
hinted that Chinese and Israeli scientists and inventors are scheduled to visit
Maguindanao.
I am
optimistic with the estimated more than 583 billion barrels of oil beneath the
Liguasan marsh, Maguindanao and the country will become like Dubai,
Mangudadatu said.
When that is
realized, our OFWs can come home because job opportunities are available here,
he added.
He said the
marshland will be converted from battlefield to oil field because of the
presence of natural gas.
The vast
marshland is also believed to contain oil and coal if deeper digging is made, Mangudadatu
said, adding that the government may distribute cooking stoves so the locals
can use the methane gas while exploration is yet to commence. Otherwise, these natural resources will be
wasted, he said.
According to a
government survey, the marshland surrounded by the provinces of Maguindanao,
North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat has 300 kilometer radius ofnatural gas.
To prove his
advocacy, Mangudadatu showed his prototype model to soldiers and police officers
who came over to accept rebel returness how the natural gas from the marshland could
be put to use.
The source of
energy was an irrigation canal in Pandag’s farmlands.
With the BOL
in place, Mangudadatu remained optimistic peace will now reign in Maguindanao’s
rebel-infested communities and convert what used to be the battlefield into a
vast oil field. (Ferdinandh Cabrera)