Commission on Audit: P260-M seaports unused, underutilized

More than P260 million worth of seaports have remained unutilized or underutilized in the past year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its latest report on the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), COA said that as a result, these ports had not earned enough money to enable the government to recover the cost of constructing and running them.

COA said the unutilized and underutilized ports are located in Iloilo and Puerto Princesa. In Iloilo, these are the ports of Sibunag, Guimbal and Concepcion, and in Puerto Princesa, these are the ports of Taytay, Bataraza and Rizal.

The total cost to developing the seaports amounted to P264.7 million.

Inspect ports

The COA said the PPA should inspect these ports to evaluate their status and recommend measures to make them operational. It should also work with local officials to encourage them to use the ports, it added.

According to COA, the PPA should conduct a detailed engineering before embarking on other projects to avoid the risk of turning them into idle assets, and to prevent the wastage of public funds.

“Priority shall be given to those projects that are viable and will be more economically beneficial than those which, in the early stage of implementation, are determined to be impractical,” it said.

Wrong assumptions

It noted that the PPA was tasked with ensuring that all income and revenues were properly collected and adequate to cover the cost of building the facilities and providing services in the ports.

In the case of Iloilo, the COA was told that the PPA developed the ports based on feasibility studies that took into account assumptions on projected traffic and revenue.

But these assumptions sometimes do not materialize because of changes in demand patterns and economic conditions, and the PPA said these are “part and parcel of economic phenomena and the overall risk.”

Officials also said the local government units were to blame for the dismal absence of port users, saying that when the structures were completed, the port zone delineation was not endorsed to the provincial government and to Malacañang. Because of this, investors were not attracted to the ports.

But an officer in the Port of Sibunag also said a cargo handling operator based there had been marketing the area and had commissioned a motorboat to ferry passengers to Pulupandan and back.

In Puerto Princesa, the COA said the Port of Rizal’s income of P188,678 was not enough to defray its operation and maintenance costs amounting to P191,339. The ports of Taytay and Bataraza have not earned any income.

The problems with the port operations include the lack of available terminals, offices, electricity, access roads, safe docking because of strong currents and big waves during bad weather and personnel to collect port revenues due to the presence of Moro rebels in the area.

The PPA said some of these are beyond their control, such as the peace and order situation in Bataraza. It said the situation worsened just when the port was completed, but it also tried to market the facility to small vessels from Sulu and Zamboanga. It also plans to put make cargo handling services available.

Cargo handling services will also be made available in other ports, it added.

No access road

The PPA also said the local government in Taytay failed to complete works on the access road to the port in violation of the agreement it signed with the PPA and the provincial government.

The COA said the PPA should pursue the construction of the access road and the provision of electricity and water supply in the ports.

Earlier, the government embarked on the development of ports and roll-on, roll-off facilities to develop nautical highways that would make inter-island travel by sea easier and more feasible.