NAUTICAL HIGHWAY. Pres. Arroyo artrives
today to formally link Bohol to Cebu, Camiguin and Cagayan
de Oro with the expansion of Jagna port and Tubigon port
(photos above). |
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President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will arrive here this morning
to personally lead a caravan that would make history
in uniting Bohol with Cebu, Camiguin and Cagayan de
Oro in one nautical highway.
The
President will be arriving at the Tubigon port by chopper
from Cebu City shortly before noontime today.
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At
the newly expanded P42.2 million Tubigon port, she will send
off a roro vessel bound for Cebu City.
Gov.
Erico Aumentado will lead the Bohol officialdom in welcoming
the President together with Reps. Edgar Chatto, Roberto Cajes
and Adam Jala with Tubigon Mayor Luna Piezas while Vice Gov.
Julius Herrera will lead the Sangguniang Panlalawigan members.
The
President will be given a briefing on the port development
in the province which the national government has extended
some P278 million during the past seven years.
PPA
Bohol Port Manager Manuel Boholano will give the briefing
at the Tubigon port.
A
luncheon gathering will be tendered by the Bohol officialdom
in Tubigon town.
By
1 p.m., the "roro caravan" motorcade will kick-off
from Tubigon port to Jagna port where the President will board
an inter-island vessel 'Shuttle Ferry" bound for Camiguin.
In
Jagna, she will be the guest during the ribbon-cutting ceremony
to signal the opening of the new Jagna-Mambajao roro route.
MARINA
Administrator Vic Suazo will turn over the certificate of
public convenience to Asian Marine Shipping President Paul
Rodriguez.
The
presidential party on board the vessel will depart for Camiguin
at 3:30 this afternoon.
The
Chronicle, together with its sister station, DYRD will provide
a live radio coverage of today's presidential visit in cooperation
with Radyo Natin in Jagna town.
The
four-hour trip to Camiguin will provide the President ample
time to hold a Cabinet meeting while cruising the Mindanao
seas. The presidential party is expected at the Mambajao Port
in Camiguin by 7:30 p.m. where the President will stay overnight
in one of the island resorts there.
Meanwhile,
members of the Arroyo Cabinet will be arriving at 7:30 this
morning from Manila in time for their Cabinet meeting set
on board "MV Shuttle Ferry" which will cruise from
Jagna to Camiguin at 3:30 this afternoon. The Cabinet members
will be hosted in a breakfast this morning at the newly opened
function room of Bohol Tropics Resort Club.
P278M
FOR BOHOL PORTS
For
the last seven years, P278-million worth of port links have
been set up for Bohol alone.
In
Bohol, the two key ports, the one in Tubigon and another one
in Jagna have been upgraded with roll-on-roll-off (roro) ramps
and corresponding back up areas and lighting systems to better
serve vessels cruising to and from Cebu City and the different
ports of Mindanao, says a report from the Tagbilaran Port
Office of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
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At
the Tubigon Port, where PGMA inaugurates the improved
facility, she would meet the roro caravan with the rest
of the country's top officials and accompanying media
taking the run through the newly opened CS of the Strong
Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH).
The
country's top executive arrives however on a helicopter
to meet the caravan she sent off in Cebu earlier as
the roro docks at the port facility which has seen P144
million improvements since 2002.
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PORT
OF TUBIGON
According
to reports by Engr. Rogelio Gambuta, Tagbilaran ports operations
manager, the port of Tubigon has had P42.2 million rehabilitation
in its reinforced concrete pier in 2002, P69.8 million causeway
reclamation and widening in 2004, P10.76 million causeway
repairs and improvements in 2005 and improvement of the old
reclamation site costing P10.94 million completed last year.
The
improvements also include 2 ramps that can together accommodate
2 roro vessels at any given time. Moreover, the port also
has a truck holding area of 1,300 square meters that can hold
a maximum of 15 units of rolling cargoes, his reports stated.
He
also added that since the implementation of the SRNH, his
office noted an increasing trend in roro shipcalls and a corresponding
number of rolling cargoes passed through the port.
Gambuta
too explained that recent statistics his office gathered could
only mean that a wider business sector acceptance of the roro
transport system as a mode of economic inter-island activity
has come.
The
PPA observation, Tubigon port laborers pointed out, is only
as far as Cebu-Bohol is concerned.
Hopes
however ignite with the President personally signaling the
full operation of yet another roro route, one that makes inter-island
shipping to Camiguin in Mindanao a reality.
After
the ceremonial port inauguration and briefing on the SRNH
in Tubigon, the President leads the caravan's land trip segment
to an exit port in Jagna, about 117 kilometers from Tubigon
via Tagbilaran City.
PORT
OF JAGNA
The
port of Jagna has also received a total of P144 million since
2003.
The
port went through a total rehabilitation, got a terminal office,
passenger terminal building, warehouse, guardhouse and deflector
wall in 2003 via the government's P15.02 million fund, Gambuta
said.
In
2005, a P19.53 million roro ramp, back up area, lighting system
and fences were installed, while phase I of the port improvement
project was started with aP54.6 million project in 2006.
Now,
the port has an ongoing phase II of its improvement with P55.27
million fund.
Its
roro port equipped with a truck holding area of 3,000 square
meters can hold a total of 35 rolling cargo units, would be
serving vessels from various ports in Mindanao,PPA
said.
In
Jagna, the country's Cabinet secretaries meet the President's
caravan and join her on board another roro sailing to Mambajao,
Camiguin, the seaboard's next port in the link to Mindanao.
NAUTICAL
HIGHWAY
SRNH
is a flagship project of Pres. Arroyo aimed at encouraging
inter-island commerce, trade and domestic tourism.
Much
like roads and highways on land, the SRNH is a highway through
the sea using roro ferry terminals and roro vessels to link
the islands. Because it is a highway through the sea, the
SRNH involves not only ports and shipping lines but road transportation
as well.
The
SRNH links the food baskets of Mindanao with the consumer
markets of Luzon.
The
SRNH aims to reduce the cost of inter-island transportation
through the use of a safe, efficient and cost-effective roro
system;
Support
the agro-fisheries modernization and food security programs
of the government;
Enhance
tourism, transportation and commerce throughout the country
and;
Encourage private sector participation in the establishment,
construction and operation of RRTS facilities. (With reports
from Rey Chiu)
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