WASHINGTON: The government will give utmost priority in developing five ports in Mindanao to accommodate more traffic and help further boost the country’s output. Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said over the weekend his group has created a Port Infrastructure Development Plan, which identified five priority ports for modernization, namely, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Iloilo and Zamboanga.
These are considered international gateways as of this writing. “We are developing these ports, as these handle majority of our import and export product not only within Asean but also worldwide,” Santiago said. He added that his group will use the Asean Ports Association (APA) Meeting on November 15 and 16 as an avenue to promote these ports.
“The APA Meeting, which we will be hosting, is a great avenue for the Philippines to assure our Asean neighbors and the world that we are doing beyond what is needed for us to properly respond to the demands of the global supply-chain market,” Santiago said. The event, which will be held at the Solaire Resorts Hotel at the country’s Entertainment City in Parañaque, is expected to be attended by the top port executives and decision-makers from the member-nations of the APA.
