Construction of Guadalupe seaport pushes through

By BONG PEDALINO
June 29, 2010

MAASIN CITY  –  The secret to keep alive this city’s port is to go on building an alternate pier with roll-on, roll-off facility located in barangay Guadalupe, a coastal village some twelve kilometers south from here, which can serve as an all-weather transit point of passengers to and from the port of Ubay, Bohol – and even Cebu.

In fact, the Guadalupe port was listed in the nautical highway envisioned by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her super regions plan to connect the Visayas islands to Luzon and Mindanao via the Ubay, Bohol, port which, incidentally, she inaugurated Monday, June 28.

City Mayor Maloney Samaco, in a news conference at his office yesterday, revealed that he had talked with Rep. Roger Mercado for the city local government unit to take the initiative of developing the new port with its huge potential on income generation for the city and an expected boom of the village’s local economy.

Officials and the people of Guadalupe are very much willing to have the city build another facility near an unfinished private port, Samaco reported, adding that they are even okay with relocating their barangay hall just so the anticipated project can be materialized.

Asked how soon this could be done with the Guadalupe folks’ open support, Samaco said he will set his sights on this one this year or within his second term, in close coordination with Rep. Mercado and Gov. Damian Mercado.

Samaco disclosed that in his meetings with several shipping companies, the Guadalupe docking point was preferred especially during “habagat” or southwest monsoon season where big waves pummeled the city’s main port.

Besides, the substitute point is much closer and less costly, operation-wise, either to Ubay, Bohol, and even Cebu, and with this many shipping companies pledged to open routes with the Guadalupe port, giving the city a competitive edge over nearby Bato and Hilongos ports.