By BEVERLY C.
PAOYON
GLAN, Sarangani (March
15, 2013) – Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay Sr. and Governor Migs Dominguez
inaugurated on Friday (March 15) the new Roll-On Roll-Off (RoRo) facility of
Glan International Port, a gateway that provides alternative trade links and
inter-island routes in the South.
While Southern
Mindanao is tossed up as the country’s next vegetable basket, Binay said the new
RoRo port will eventually benefit thousands of farmers in the region as this
would facilitate “fast transport of perishable goods” and would resolve the
“burden of high cost of transportation using commercial vessels.”
This new RoRo route
“will enable to immediately ship the produce at a very cheaper cost,” Binay
said.
He also said this
service would boost the emerging cross-border trading and people mobility
between the members of Jose Abad Santos-Glan-Sarangani Cooperation Triangle
(JAGS-CT) which fosters better trade relations between the Regency of Sangihe,
Indonesia and Davao del Sur and Glan.
The prioritization to develop Glan Port came after then
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared it in 2005 as a Limited International
Port.
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) consequently
undertook in 2007 the rehabilitation of the dilapidated pier with a 20M
budget.
In
2012, another P28 million was approved for the port development which covered
the construction of this RoRo ramp, concreting of landing area, repair of
crossway, among others.
The RoRo ramp was proposed to provide link with that of
the RoRo ramp of the neighboring Port of Mabila, Sarangani, Davao del Sur and
its people thru the expanded Strong Republic Nautical
Highway.
According to PPA port district manager and PDO of
Southern Mindanao Atty. Christian Santillan, among “its contemporaries in the
newly constructed RoRo capable ports in Southern Mindanao, the Port of Glan is
the only one which has reached international status.”
“It has been transformed into a formidable alternative
port” in which he cited its integrated Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and
Security (CIQS) has also bilateral standards.
Santillan said the advent of the RoRo concept and the
Glan port was envisioned to link with the “seven thousand islands of the country
using RoRo vessel where shippers only need to pay terminal fee at the port of
entry and the cargoes that are loaded thru container vans or trailers are rolled
up to the next port of call.”
The construction of
the RoRo capable ports supports to reduce the cost of transport, the
modernization of port’s agro fisheries and the structure and operation of RoRo
terminal systems.
Santillan said the Glan International Port “can cater
now not only to ports in Mindanao but also in the Visayas and as far as Luzon
and Manila thru our nautical highway”.
In
the near future, he said, “we intend to construct a passenger terminal building
to cater to our passengers. We intend to put a very good system to have our port
lighted day and night. We also propose to widen our crossway to accommodate
bigger trucks and cargoes and lengthen the wharf by another 30 meters to
accommodate bigger vessels.”
Glan Mayor Victor
James Yap Sr. then hoped that the national government will commit “to pursue the
expansion of (our) Glan wharf in the standards of a satellite international port
of the PPA in Southern Mindanao.”
In 2006, JAGS-CT
initiated the maiden voyage of a vessel carrying commercial goods from Glan to
Tahuna and Bitung, Indonesia and another exploratory mission was undertaken in
2010. For more news and updates, please visit the <a href= http://www.sarangani.gov.ph/ > Province of Sarangani
</a> (Beverly C. Paoyon /SARANGANI INFORMATION
OFFICE)
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