Pimentel calls for modernization of Mindanao ports to int’l standards

Some of the major ports in Mindanao (Image from Google Maps)

It’s high time for the government to modernize local ports in Mindanao to international standards, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III urged on Sunday.

Pimentel also backed the move of businessmen who met recently in Davao City, urging the government to rehabilitate, expand and upgrade the local ports in the southern island.

The 26th Mindanao Business Conference, conducted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), has approved 20 resolutions that would be brought up in the upcoming Philippine Business Conference.

“We should fully implement the law that allows foreign ships’ co-loading for domestic transhipment to encourage healthy competition. But our ports have to be upgraded to meet the berthing and mooring needs of foreign ships,” Pimentel said in a statement.

Citing the observations of Mindanao businessmen, Pimentel said foreign ships could only dock in international ports because of “berthing depth requirements and inadequate mooring facilities that domestic ports could not provide.”

Pimentel also supported the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s proposal to fully industrialize the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental to improve local manufacturing production.

He also backed the call to declare the Mindanao Container Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental as a freeport not only to lessen cost but also to hasten the implementation of the proposed Mindanao railway project, which aims to ease connectivity in Mindanao’s six regions. /atm