Container port, 3 new int’l airports eyed in Visayas
Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary Bayani Agabin yesterday said that the Cebu International Container Port and three other projects will be constructed under the “Build, Build, Build” program of the National Government.
Speaking during the Asian Development Bank (ADB) press conference, Agabin said that the container port will be completed within the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Agabin represented Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez in the Philippine Economic Briefing initiated by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Dominguez chairs the ADB Board of Governors this year.
The Cebu container port, which will be located in Consolacion, Cebu, will cost P10 billion to build and will be implemented by the Department of Transportation for the Cebu Port Authority, its attached government-owned and controlled corporation.
Aside from the container port, Agabin said the other three projects that will be implemented in the Visayas are the Iloilo International Airport, Panglao International Airport in Bohol, and the Bacolod-Silay International Airport with a total combined cost of P55.23 billion.
“These projects are all planned to be substantially completed by the end of the President’s term,” Agabin said.
The Panglao airport will be fully operational by August 2018.
Agabin also disclosed that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is working on the plan to build strategic road projects that would help ease traffic congestion.
“We will also build a number of large bridges that will link islands within Visayas as well as connect the Visayas Islands to Luzon,” he added.