Israeli-based company Merhav (Herzliya) is planning to enter the Colombian Biofuels industry through subsidiary Agrifuels de Colombia SA (Bogota, Columbia). The company will build a fuel ethanol plant in the city of Pivijay, in the northern region of the country, about 40mi from the Caribbean coast. The plant will use 1.2 million tons of sugarcane per year as feedstock, which will yield approximately 25 million gallons of fuel ethanol. Currently, the company is searching for funding to build the plant. The agricultural phase of the project has already been developed, and environmental permits have been obtained. Merhav now needs USD 140 million to build the plant. Once funding is obtained, the company intends to select an engineering, procurement, and construction management firm, which should perform basic and detailed engineering and procurement during 2010. It is estimated that civil construction will begin in November 2010, with start-up of the plant occurring in November 2012.
