PFDA to come up with final plan of P300M fish port by Jan. 2010
TACLOBAN CITY-The Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) will come up with the final plan on the construction of the proposed P300 million Tacloban Fish Port on January 2010 following the PFDA team inspection last month.
Leyte provincial fishery director Anselmo Riel said that the team and the city government agreed to establish the fish port within the city’s wet market, some areas of the Old Bus Terminal, and vegetables selling area.
“The next time they will come back on January, they will present the final plan of the project that will rise within the one hectare reclamation area. They will extend the port to adjacent lots depending on the plan of the city government,” Riel said in an interview.
More lots will be used in building plants for its full development.
The team’s visit next month will be the third since the project was announced by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) early this year. The first and second inspections were conducted July and November, respectively.
The group was composed of experts that studied various aspects of the projects with the purpose to come up with a feasibility study.
“The final plan will be presented to the mayor on January. Actual construction will immediately follow,” Riel added.
“I suggested to PFDA that the LGU can visit existing fish port for them to see the site and operation.”
The Department of Agriculture through PFDA is pushing to kick-off the P300 million project before the end of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term mid-2010.
The proposed facility will be patterned after the fishing port in General Santos – it has piers, refrigeration facilities, ice plants and processing plants-to enable fishers to unload their catch, process them and export their products to whatever markets because of their nearness to airports.
If the project will be pushed through, it will attract canning operations, fish mill plants and many investors in the tuna industry and will create more jobs.
BFAR officials said that the project will give clear direction to the flourishing tuna industry in Eastern Samar and Northern Samar seas which recently have drawn catchers feeding the requirement of General Santos City tuna processing plant.
The project will also boom the existing mariculture (marine agriculture) zones in the region because of the steady market.
Riel said that the establishment of fish port will also sustain operation of 47 registered fishing boats in the province. The number of boats operating was significantly reduced by half due to rising fuel cost. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO)
- Experts to check preparation of Tacloban fish port project
- BFAR-8 to implement rent-to-own fish cage project
- BFAR to commercialize abalone, blue crab in EV
- Pasalubong Center to sell Northern Samar products
- BFAR-8 promotes seaweed production
