Thursday, December 25, 2008 Sarangani port upgrade seen to up trade links with Indon
FORMAL trade exchanges between the town of Glan, Sarangani and Indonesia's North Sulawesi are expected to perk up next year with the upgrading of a port facility costing some P20 million, officials in the province projected.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday led the inauguration of the improved Glan port and sent off M/V Al Gani, an Indonesian cargo vessel loaded with soft drink products bound for the Indonesian port Tahuna, about seven hours away.
Nenita L. Barroso, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) director for Sarangani province, said they are expecting shipping companies to utilize Glan port with the customs, immigration, quarantine and security (CIQS) services already in place at the rehabilitated facility.
"With these services in the ground, formal trading is projected to increase starting next year that will spur the local economy," Barroso said on Thursday.
She noted that informal trading activities have been going around for decades between Glan and areas in North Sulawesi.
Two years ago, a ship sailed off in a maiden voyage from Glan to Bitung via Tahuna, but this formal shipping route has not been sustained due to lack of CIQS services in Glan and the poor state of the port, the Trade official recalled.
The historic shipment through M/L Aljamar, a Philippine-flagged 90-gross tonnage wooden vessel, was launched to boost the economy of three Mindanao towns that clustered themselves in an economic grouping called the Jose Abad Santos-Glan-Sarangani Cooperation Triangle or JAGS-CT.
The vessel took off with around 170 metric tons of activated carbon, papaya soaps and soft drink and mango products. It returned carrying Indonesian goods such as cacao, knocked-down fabricated houses, charcoals and copra.
Glan Mayor Enrique B. Yap Jr. noted the improvement of the port will bolster livelihood and economic activities within the local economic grouping.
"This (port) is vital to the economy of JAGS-CT (Jose Abad Santos-Glan Cooperation Triangle). This port project will formalize our century-old trading partnership with Indonesia," Yap was quoted as telling the President in a Malacañang statement.
In line with Glan port's upgrading, Yap said earlier there have been efforts to relocate the Tahuna-Davao City trading point to his coastal town.
"Indonesia is much nearer to Glan than Davao," he said.
JAGS-CT was formed in line with the thrusts of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia Malaysia-the Philippines East Asean Growth Area. It has fostered sisterhood ties with the Sangihe Regency of Indonesia to promote better partnership and cooperation. (BSS)
