LAMITAN CITY: A newly completed expansion of the port in Lamitan has made this budding city ready for ASEAN integration, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said Friday. Hataman and Basilan Gov. Hajimin Saliman-Hataman led the turnover of the P150-million port facility. Hataman said the project was part of the ARMM’s commitment to pour infrastructure support into Basilan to enhance the economic development of the province. The move is meant to complement moves by security forces to stabilize the province and flush out the Abu Sayyaf Group.
ARMM Public Works Secretary Don Loong said the port expansion means it can now accommodate more vessels, including roll on/roll off boats. He said the expansion readies Basilan for trade integration in the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). “It will lower the transport cost for the towns trading their goods outside,” Loong said. Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay said the port facility will help boost economic activity in the city, which is a rich source of rubber and copra. The city is also a trading hub for aquaculture products from neighboring towns. “When people start to get busy from economic activities, this will help defeat the security problem,” Furigay said, citing the lack of economic opportunities as the main cause of lawlessness in the past years.
ARMM Gov. Hataman vowed to continue building major infrastructure projects in the five provinces of the ARMM but appealed to the provincial and local governments to shoulder the cost of maintaining the projects. The regional governor said docking ports will be established in all island towns of the region and assured residents that no province will be left out. Hataman also inaugurated and turned over a P45-million water system in Maluso town.
