By Lydia C. Pendon
ILOILO CITY, Mar. 17 (PNA) – Two commercial ports in the city and province of Iloilo are up for rehabilitation and expansion in a move to make Iloilo attractive to more investments and tourists in this part of the country.
City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has allotted P180 million for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Dumangas Port in Brgy. Sapao, Dumangas as a major alternate port of the Port of Iloilo located in Iloilo City.
The Dumangas Port will serve as passenger and cargo terminal to offer roll-on, roll-off facilities, now being developed as the Port of the Province of Iloilo.
On the other hand, the Port of Iloilo located at the Parola area in the city proper is the main port of the region and will be upgraded and improved soon by the PPA.
Mabilog said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will soon finished the construction of the P135 million new roro port at the Lapuz area to service the roro vessels for Bacolod City and back and the interisland vessels for Palawan and Cagayancillo.
Similarly, the Department of Agriculture and its Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is also upgrading and expanding the fishport located inside the Iloilo Fish Port Complex in the city proper. The project is expected to be completed by 2015 and will upgrade the services at the complex with refrigeration facilities.
On the other hand, the municipality of Dumangas, Iloilo through Mayor Rolando Distura is offering for public private partnership (PPP) investment the development of the Dumangas Economic Zone and Techno Hub.
The proposed site is at sitio Naluoyan in Brgy. Sapao, Dumangas, some 27 kilometers away from Iloilo City. The economic zone will form the nucleus of an industrial center for assembly and manufacturing, warehousing and storage facilities of the Dumangas Port that is highly accessible through the national coastal road from Iloilo City. (PNA)