Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista. (File photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista on Tuesday said the government aims to complete some 20 seaports across the archipelago and finish maintenance work on 18 airports by June, or just before the State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in July this year.
Bautista said at a press briefing in Malacañang that he updated the President on various maritime, aviation and road projects during a transportation sectoral meeting with the Chief Executive in the Palace.
While the transport official did not identify the 20 port projects to be completed soon, the annual procurement plan for fiscal year 2023 of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and its Ports Management Office listed 48 priority projects covering the construction, expansion, improvement, development or restoration of various ports throughout the country, including those damaged by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai) in December 2021.
Nautical highway
Among the PPA projects nearing completion are the expansion of the port in Currimao, Ilocos Norte; rehabilitation of the Port of Claveria in Cagayan; upgrading of the Capinpin port in Orion, Bataan; improvement of the Plaridel port in Quezon, and the expansion of the Puerto Galera port in Oriental Mindoro and the Balanacan port in Mogpog, Marinduque.
The PPA also opened last month new port facilities in Masbate, Coron in Palawan, and Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro, as part of the strategy of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to construct and expand seaports to improve the country’s nautical highway over the next six years, which will support vital economic sectors such as agriculture and trade, as highlighted in the 2023-2028 Philippine Development Plan.
“New linkages and strategic location of new ports will be assessed to create new rural growth areas. The capacity of Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) facilities will be increased and processes will be digitized to address congestion and delays,” the DOTr said.
Electronic terminal management systems such as electronic ticketing will also be implemented and streamlined while aging fleets will be replaced or retrofitted to mitigate the risk of maritime accidents, it added.
The DOTr also plans to upgrade land routes aligned with the nautical highway network and complete the missing links in the road network by constructing viable inter-island bridges.
“Road transport corridors leading to airports and ports will be upgraded, including installation of weighbridges to prevent overloading,” it said.
Railway projects
During the Palace briefing, Bautista said he also reported to the president the finalization of different contract packages for the North-South Commuter Railway, as well as contract packages for the Metro Manila Subway.
The North-South Commuter Railway, also known as the Clark-Calamba Railway, is a 147-kilometer urban rail transit system conceived in the 1990s but was started only in 2019 under the previous Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program. The project is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the Asian Development Bank.
Once completed, travel time from Clark International Airport to Calamba City, Laguna, will be cut to two hours from more than four hours.
The 33-km Metro Manila Subway project, meanwhile, will have 17 stations and run through Valenzuela City, Quezon City, Pasig City, Makati City, Taguig City, Pasay City and Parañaque City.
Jica will finance P370.77 billion or 75.9 percent of the project cost, while the Philippine government will shoulder the remaining P117.71 billion.
It is expected to serve more than 519,000 passengers daily once it becomes operational.
Bautista said he also reported developments on other major railway projects that include the MRT 7, which the DOTr expects to be completed by June 2025, as well as the extension of LRT 1 from Baclaran to Sucat, which is set to be completed by next year.