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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

PPA to construct 40 new projects Full steam ahead

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The Philippine Ports Authority has allocated P2 billion for the construction of at least 44 new projects this year.

The amount will also cover the repair and maintenance of 199 carry-over projects across the country.

PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago said the projects are in line with the agency’s effort to address the increasing volume of cargoes and passengers in the regions and container loads in the three major ports under the PPA, namely the Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port and the Port of Cebu.

Santiago said as of end-June this year, the agency has already completed 57 projects while 58 are still ongoing.

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The load capacity of the two Manila ports, he said, is almost in the near threshold because of unclaimed, abandoned and overstaying shipments which could not be immediately disposed because of pending court cases.

Santiago said the rehabilitation and expansion of three major ports outside Metro Manila, which will cost around P624 million, will address the potential excess of cargoes in the next two to five years.

He said PPA will also put up modern cranes to increase the efficiency of the ports by almost three-fold.

Meanwhile, PPA will also improve the berths for international cruise ships in top island destinations across the country, including Bohol, Caticlan, Puerto Princesa and Currimao, and expand roll-on and roll-off (RoRo) facilities to boost domestic tourism.

“We will improve the RoRo facilities, provided there is traffic and there is volume. We also want to have a facility that can accommodate cruise ships similar to the Hong Kong Ferry terminal where passengers can immediately access land transportation and retail establishments,” he added.

Santiago said the state-run agency will audit safety measures and safety protocols in all passenger terminals.

“What I would like to concentrate within the first 100 days is to make sure that we follow all safety protocols on our passenger terminals. We will audit all our safety protocols and safety measures to address security threat in our port facilities particularly on the passenger terminal,” Santiago said.

“We want to make sure that they are safe and comfortable and they have the amenities that they need and they deserve such as improvements of toilet facilities and free Wifi access,” he added.

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