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Friday, October 18, 2002
PPA junks reclamation for 'port city' project
By Angeline Valencia
THE Philippine Ports Authority has officially withdrawn its proposed P130 fast ferry terminal and reclamation project and compromised with City Hall and Silliman University for the setting up of a "port city."
Observers view the 360-degree turnaround of the PPA as the agency's tacit admission of its dim chances of getting the full support of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The environment department has been perceived as supporting the arguments of the Silliman community against the PPA's proposed multi-million-peso project.
During a meeting with representatives from Silliman University, provincial environment office, and the city headed by Mayor Agustin Perdices, PPA General Manager Alfonso Cusi said that the PPA is proposing a "port city" that will house a two-storey administrative building and a modern passenger terminal.
Cusi said that the two-storey building will be erected on the premises of the offices of the Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Coast Guard and that the whole port city project will extend up to the City Engineer's Office (CEO) and the Amado Dagudag Memorial Elementary School.
The port official said PPA would finalize its alternative proposal once the City Government transfers the CEO building to Barangay Bajumpandan and the adjacent elementary school to another location.
The port city design will be patterned after the floating terminal of the Delta Fast Ferry shipping company.
Perdices and representatives of SU headed by its president Agustin Pulido agreed to the PPA plan.
Earlier, during the recent meeting of the Regional Development Council meeting in his province, Siquijor Governor Orlando Fua Sr. suggested that PPA give up its reclamation project and instead buy the floating terminal of Delta. |
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