DAVAO CITY – The Philippine government will build a P450-million port in Barangay Pag-asa in the Kalayaan Island Group, the country’s smallest municipality as ties with Asian neighbors, especially China, have warmed under the Duterte administration.
The port on Pagasa Island will be built using funds from the 2017 General Appropriations Act under the Department of Transportation, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said.
Funding for the project has been included in the 2017 General Appropriations Act approved by the House of Representatives, under the DOTr’s aggregate R3.98-billion spending program for the maritime sector, Pimentel said.
The amount will be under the capital outlay budget under the DOTr’s funding for its Central Office.
“We support the port development project, which will surely help encourage human settlement in the remote Philippine island that now has less than 400 residents, mostly fishermen,” Pimentel, also a member of the House Committee on National Defense and Security, said.
Pimentel suggested that the University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources put up a research station in Pagasa.
He urged the Department of Energy to find ways to provide the 37.2-hectare island a renewable and stable source of electricity.
At present, only a 75KVa generator set supplies some of the electricity needs of the island.
The port would vastly improve accessibility to the area and bolster the country’s claims to the West Philippine Sea, according to a DOTr report submitted to Congress. (Yas D. Ocampo)