PPA to accelerate port dev't projects

MANILA -- The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will be accelerating the implementation infrastructure projects in ports nationwide amid robust growth in revenues for the first quarter of the year.

The revenues of the PPA reached P3.78 billion for the first quarter which is higher by 9 percent year on year than the P 3.48 billion for the same period last year. This was reportedly driven by strong performance of the government’s share from storage fees which increased by 50 percent and lay up fees by 183 percent among others.

Its fund management

income increased by 26 percent to P30.41 million this year from P24.02 million last year.

The strong financial performance will enable the agency to further improve ports which are heavily congested with cargoes and passengers.

“We have been injecting so much investment in our ports in support of the Build-Build-Build program of the Duterte Administration,” PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago said in a statement Tuesday.

The net income of PPA has declined by 4 percent to P2.26 billion from P2.37 billion last year due to its hefty first quarter expenses on maintenance, particularly on repair and maintenance and dredging.

“Dredging as well as repair and maintenance costs comprise almost entirely our expenses for the period, all aimed at making our ports efficient and more responsive to the demands of times,” Santiago said.

The PPA is currently conducting 45 locally-funded port development projects in Luzon wherein seven have already been completed, 19 are ongoing and another 19 projects are for procurement; 19 for Visayas where three have already been finished, eight projects are ongoing and eight are for procurement; and 40 for Mindanao where five have been delivered, 21 ongoing and 14 under procurement. Among the ports currently undergoing improvement include; Puerto Princesa, Eastern Leyte, Ilocos Norte, Occidental Mindoro, Batangas, Ozamiz.

The PPA expects that it could hit its gross income target of P16.18 billion as some of the port development projects start to go online this year. PNA