17 ports for completion Jagna, Ubay in the list

SEVENTEEN ports in various parts of the country set to be completed this year would ultimately cut travel time and cargo transport costs from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao and vice versa. In a press briefing, Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Director General and Infrastructure Monitoring Task Force (IMTF) Chief Cerge Remonde said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself directed the fast tracking of projects for completion as priority infrastructure projects.

The ports set to be finished within the year are: Dingalan Port in Aurora Province ; Batangas Port , Batangas; Cawit Port , Boac, Marinduque; Cawayan Port , Masbate ; Pantao Port , Libon, Albay; Siquijor Port , Siquijor. Jagna Port, Bohol; Ubay Port, Bohol; Liloan Ferry Terminal Port, Southern Leyte; Limasawa Port, Southern Leyte; Naval Port, Biliran; Guisiliban Port, Camiguin.

Cagayan de Oro Port, Misamis Oriental; Davao (Sasa) Port, Davao City; Balbagon (Mambajao) Port, Mambajao, Camiguin; Subic Bay Port Development Project; and Lucena Port Passenger Terminal Building in Quezon. Remonde said the 17 priority port projects form part of the 28 port projects the President identified in her Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) program at the beginning of her administration.

The SRNP snared an aggregate cost of P23.5 billion spread until 2010. SRNH aims to facilitate the end-to-end transport of passengers, goods and services from production to population centers to boost and maximize the economic potentials of the country's five Super Regions.

Under President Arroyo's Super Regions concept which forms part of the Medium-Term Public Investment Program (MTPIP), the country's 16 regions have been grouped into four mega-regions, plus another region that cuts across these mega-regions, to create an enlarged economic landscape based on the natural competitive advantage of these areas. Remonde cited the strategic importance of ports in sustaining the economy's growth as they serve as vital links that bring the country's production base closer to the market.

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