DAGUPAN CITY, July 15 (PNA)—Construction of the Sual International Shipping Port is targeted to start sometime this month, according to Sual Mayor John Rodney Arcinue.
Arcinue said Phase 1 of the project is set to be undertaken by the contractor Golden Ridge Construction of Bataan, funded by the initial P90 million committed by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC).
Phase II will be started after Phase I to be funded either by the P100 million committed by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), P200 million from the Pangasinan provincial government and P100 million from the municipal government of Sual.
Speaking on Wednesday during the forum “Engkwentro” of the Pangasinan Press Club, Arcinue said the Sual shipping port was initiated by Governor Amado Espino Jr. as a joint project among the DOTC, PPA, Pangasinan provincial government and the municipality of Sual.
The three-term mayor of Sual revealed he attended a consultation meeting among representatives of all the agencies involved in the project on June 17 and learned that construction of the shipping port is set sometime this month of July.
Admitting that the start of the construction was delayed a little because of the last election after its ground breaking sometime in February this year, Arcinue is confident that new administration of President Benigno Aquino III will continue the project.
He said the P90 million committed by DOTC was already released and that Phase I of the project was already bid out, with the PPA’s commitment of P100 million yet being awaited.
The mayor said the P100 million counterpart of the municipality is not a problem because the town may obtain loan from the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB).
The port is located at Baquioen Bay, a natural cove in the Lingayen Gulf where ships are sheltering from the storm in the open sea.
The shipping port is part of the development equation drawn up by the municipal government to boost economic opportunities in Sual and other parts of western Pangasinan, said Arcinue.
Included in the equation is the adjacent Sual Coal-Fired Power Plant, operated by the Team Energy, which is now supplying 1,000 megawatts to the Luzon Grid.
He said with abundant power supply, a shipping port and an economic development zone to be put up soon that would open up many jobs, the municipal government has started training for workers that may be needed by the port.
The project jibes well with the development of the Alaminos Airport, only few kilometers away, whose construction was already started.
Sual is a first class town in Pangasinan with an annual income of P126 million but with a sparse population of only 32,000. (PNA)
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