The “Bike Paradise of the Philippines” campaign of Guimaras province gets a boost with the launching of Green Spark Project on December 7, 2020 at the Look-out Point 17 in Barangay M. Chavez, San Lorenzo town.

The project, which features bicycles made of bamboos or “Bambikes”, “promotes environmental awareness and sustainable tourism.”

It was initiated by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in partnership with Guimaras Wind, Provincial Government of Guimaras, Bambike Revolution Cycles and the local government units (LGUs) of San Lorenzo and Buenavista.

“Basically as the name connotes for itself ‘green spark,’ what we want to achieve here is to create a green revolution. We want to spark green revolution in the tourism sector,” said Reagahn C. Alcantara, lead specialist of the Corporate Initiatives and Advocates Division-Office of the President of NGCP.

“This is one way of NGCP to contribute in a little way to the economy of Guimaras. We hope that through this Spark Project we could appreciate more the beauty of biking,” he added.

The Green Spark launching was originally scheduled to take place in March but was postponed due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

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 San Lorenzo through ecotourism and low-impact development using the local renewable resource bamboo.

Elena Quezon, Provincial Economic Development Officer, said that Guimaras is in gratitude to NGCP officials who believe that the island has the potential of developing eco-tourism destinations.

“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.

Lea Denise Belgira, gold medalist of women’s downhill mountain bike event of the Southeast Asian Games 2019 was also present in the event.IMT