P2.5B China loan to fund Navotas fish port upgrade

The 35-year-old Navotas fish port complex is up for a P2.7-billion renovation to ensure that Metro Manila and surrounding suburbs will have enough fish supply and stable prices in the future.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said the rehabilitation of the country’s biggest and oldest fish port would be completed in 2015.

About 80 percent of Metro Manila’s fish supply comes from Navotas, where an average of 380 metric tons of fish are unloaded and traded at the port daily.

The Philippine government will seek a P2.56-billion loan from the China Export-Import Bank, and put up a counterpart fund of P137 million, the Department of Agriculture said.

According to Alcala, the rehabilitation of the 47.5-hectare fish port complex entails the upgrade of the landing quay, market halls, piers, parking areas, drainage system and breakwater; the construction of wharf landing; dredging of harbor basin; and provision of an area for ship repair and other agri-fishery enterprises.

The project would also build new facilities like cold storage system, conveyors, fish sorting areas, and waste water treatment plant.

The improvements are expected to increase the port’s unloading and trading volume by about 60 percent, from the current annual average of 131,934 metric tons to 210,806 MT by 2015, the DA added.—Kristine L. Alave