News Briefs

GLOBAL CONTAINER TERMINAL IN CEBU

REPRESENTATIVES of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will meet today with the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) to revisit the stalled study on putting up an International Container Terminal in Cebu.

CPA Manager Dennis Villamor met last week with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Rep. Benhur Salimbangon of Cebu’s 4th district to discuss the P20.4-billion, 60-hectare terminal project.

JICA studied the project in 2002.

Villamor said they decided to revisit the study to address the problem of traffic management, capacity and volume accommodation of the present container terminal.

“Cargoes, both domestic and international have caused traffic in the streets of Cebu City,” he said in an interview.

The current container terminal in the pier area in Cebu and Mandaue cities has a capacity of only 500,000 tons.

Villamor said the new terminal will have a capacity of 1.2 to 1.5 million tons.

The north and south of Mactan Island, a part of Minglanilla and the South Road Properties  has been identified before as possible sites of the terminal. But the JICA study points to an area in Consolacion and Liloan towns as the best site, Villamor said.

CPA is eyeing a public-private partnership or loan to fund the project.

“We will have this approved by the Cebu Port Commission, DOTC, Neda (National Economic Development Authority) and the Office of the President,” he said.

The preparation for the project will take two years while construction will take three to five years, Villamor said. /Correspondent Carmel Loise P. Matus

QUISUMBING SUPPORTS CORDOVA AIRPORT

REP. Luigi Quisumbing of Cebu’s sixth district said he agrees with the idea of transferring the international airport from Mactan Island to Cordova town.

“If we build a bigger and wider airport, what’s wrong with that?,” Quisumbing said.

The congressman was reacting to the offer of Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy to let the town host the airport since Lapu-Lapu City can no longer accommodate the facility if it is expanded.

Sitoy’s offer surprised government stakeholders and representatives of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority who earlier attended the Korean International Cooperation Agency’s presentation of the master plan for the airport’s expansion.

But the transfer is still at a conceptual stage, said Quisumbing. He said that in the meantime, the MCIA should be improved to cope with the influx of tourists.

“Let’s cope with the demand,” the congressman said. “Our airport needs a lot of work.”

He said his main concern as of now is the security of people using the airport. He said high-end equipment should be used in the absence of skilled security personnel.

“What’s the use of equipment if there’s no skilled workers? We have the personnel but not the equipment,” he added. /Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos

BEAMS FALL IN SM CONSOLACION

TWO sets of beams fell from the SM mall being built  in Consolacion town, north Cebu shortly before noon yesterday.

The beams fell during the lunch break so no one was injured, said Maricel Vael, safety officer of mall contractor DDT Konstract Inc.

Vael said they are looking into why the beams fell.

Joey Tanguman, safety officer immediately went to the site but found no workers injured.

He had yet to determine the extent of the damage.

Police went to the site but were not allowed to go inside.

PO2 Jonasky Romero and his team were only entertained by Vael and given initial information about the incident.

Work on the two-story mall started  early this year and is scheduled to be finished before the year ends. The site is a 53,000-square meter  lot in barangay Lamac, Consolacion town. /Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza