PPA taps French gov’t for P11-B to install ro-ro port in Surigao, 73 others

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will tap the French government for P11 billion for the installation of 74 roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) ports nationwide to link the provinces and reduce the transport fare of goods.

The project is part of the governments pump priming activities to mitigate the effects of the global prices.

Atty. Oscar Sevilla, general manager of PPA, said the project is dubbed as the Greater Maritime Access (GMA) and will be done by the contractor of the Eiffel Tower.

He said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will decide on which areas these ports will be constructed.

The following provinces are the priority in the proposed list --Pangasinan, Isabela/Aurora, Quezon, Romblon, Mindoro, Cavite, Palawan, Masbate, Albay, Surigao del Norte, Eastern Samar, Davao and Cotabato.

Sevilla explained that the ports will be modular, meaning that they can be transferred from one place to other areas.

He said modular ports can be put up in less than four months and is solar powered, saying that “it is much cheaper, costing about Php50 million per port depending on the size and features.”

The project would use pre-fabricated steel ports composed of five interdependence modular parts such as pier connecting to shore, mooring platform, manual ramp dolphin and passenger terminal.

Sevilla said the project was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) last year for funding by Spain’s Banco de Bilbao Vizcaya Argentina, S.A. in Madrid, but it did not push through.

In 2008, PPA has allocated Php7 billion for the SONA projects out of the Php9-billion budget.(PNA)

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