INSTEAD of a fishport, what will soon operate in Barangay Tanke in Talisay City will be an international container port. The fishport, a project initiated by then congressman and now Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas and which has not been functional, will become just a mere access area to the container port, which will be built in the shallow portion of the sea off the city.
Fisherfolk in Barangay Tanke and the nearby Barangay San Roque are protesting, worried about their livelihood. But they need to understand that the times are changing, with the continued urbanization of Metro Cebu. Talisay is no longer the suburban area that once hosted beach resorts and was a viable fishing ground with fish ponds.
Tanke even had a “kilawan” where beach goers flocked for meals. Now the barangay has become notorious as haven of drug peddlers and users. And while some resorts survived the urban blight that has gripped its beaches and the nearby communities, generally Talisay has lost its appeal to local tourists. The international port should usher in the needed paradigm shift. The container port is a project of the Department of Transportation, which will initially fund the construction of the 25-hectare facility, which will be leased by a private firm, the Cebu South Harbor and Container Terminal Services Corp. The container port should help decongest the Cebu International Port in Cebu City and will provide a balance to the construction of the new internal port in Consolacion town in the north. Firms in the south will benefit from its operation.
The operation of the new container port, however, would also add to the problems that have arisen with the economic growth in the Metro. How would this affect the traffic flow in the already congested old south road and the Cebu South Coastal Road? Consider the other projects, notably in the South Road Properties in Cebu City that would put added pressure on the traffic flow in the area.
While we welcome urbanization and economic growth, we need to ensure that lessons of the past would be learned when the lack of an urban plan caused the problems we have been facing for years now.