Sunday, August 31, 2008 CPA awaits revised study on Liloan int'l port
THE Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) will submit to the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) the revised plan and study for an international port in Liloan, Cebu, said General Manager Angelo Verdan.
Jica has spent P3.8 million for the feasibility study on the proposed Liloan port and submitted it to the CPA during the time of then general manager Jose Jake Marques in 2002.
Verdan said that Jica revised the master plan to reduce the cost and make it more affordable. He is optimistic that the proposed port will push through under the new master plan.
“We have to build a new international port, but we are not in a hurry because the Cebu International Port is not yet overcrowded,” Verdan said.
When the Jica team composed of Yukio Nashida, Takahiko Kishimoto and Atsushi Sato presented the master plan in 2002, then governor Pablo P. Garcia asked why the proposed berthing area was too short.
An ideal international port that can compete with Singapore and other countries in the region should have a berthing area at least 3,000 meters long, but the original proposal for Liloan specified only 1,200 meters.
Another issue raised was the cost. In 2002, Jica already urged the CPA to apply for an initial P9-billion loan from the Japan International Bank for Cooperation (JBIC) for its construction.
Had the CPA followed the suggestion of the Jica team, the proposed international port would have been completed in 2010.
Then general manager Marques had brought up the idea of borrowing P6 billion for the construction of the port and asking stakeholders in the private sector to help build the cargo terminals, among others.
However, the proposed international port was shelved when Marques was suddenly replaced by Mariano Martinez, who suggested that the port be built in Cordova instead.
In 2004, the CPA under Martinez hired a Hong Kong-based firm to conduct a hydrographic survey. The survey revealed that a portion of Cordova town was the best alternative to the proposed site in Liloan and would cost less to build.
Martinez, in an earlier interview, had said the proposed port in Liloan was too costly because Jica recommended filling up about 60 hectares of submerged land so that it would rise by about 12 meters. (EOB)
