BATANGAS CITY—Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has said the expansion of the Batangas Container Terminal here will open an alternative gateway for the country’s rapidly growing trade with countries in the region, and ease Manila’s port congestion that has long been the woe of investors.
Operated by Asian Terminals Incorporated (ATI), the second berth of the Batangas Container Terminal (BCT), which was inaugurated on Monday morning (April 29), will enable the port facility to handle over 450,000 20-footer containers annually from its previous annual capacity of 300,000 20-footer-equivalent units.
In commending ATI and global port operator DP World for modernizing the Batangas international port, Dominguez said he considers this private sector investment as a significant contribution to President Duterte’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program that aims to bring sustainability to the Philippines’ growth and make its economy more inclusive and competitive in the coming years.
“With Asian Terminals Incorporated, the modernization of the Batangas Container Terminal proceeded by leaps and bounds. Asian Terminals Incorporated brings to this port the best know-how and cutting edge technologies with its partner, the DP World, that made this company a totally true global power in port operations,” Dominguez said at the event.
Monday’s event marked the completion of Berth 2 and the crane capacity expansion of the BCT.
A new passenger terminal here is scheduled for completion in 2021, which, Dominguez said, will make the Batangas port “the second major hub for maritime transport and commerce in Luzon” and sustain the status of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) as among the country’s most progressive regions.
Dominguez, who was a guest of honor at the event, said the opening of the additional berth at the BCT will help ease congestion at the Port of Manila by servicing domestic routes to the southern islands as well as handle cargoes to and from regional hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines’ other global trading partners.
“This additional berth will surely have a positive impact on the growth of the economy. I prefer to look at this port project as Asian Terminals’ contribution to President Rodrigo Duterte’s ambitious ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure modernization program,” the Finance chief said. “This will make our economy more efficient, more attractive to investors, and it will help shape our economic development to be more inclusive.”
Dominguez said the simultaneous and rapid development of the Batangas Port, along with the Clark freeport that is now being transformed into the country’s first smart and green metropolis, will not only relieve the overconcentration of commerce and administration in Metro Manila, but would also “power our nation’s progress for decades to come.”
“I must commend President Yosi Tanco and Asian Terminals for investing in the modernization of this trading hub. I trust that this new facility will be as efficient and as cutting-edge as the other ports in Dubai, and we know that their technology will certainly bring this port to a very high level,” Dominguez said. “This is a momentous day for the country’s progress. We will remember this day as a big step forward for our economy’s emergence.”
Dominguez pointed out that among the key goals of President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program is to create economic opportunities outside Metro Manila, “and this is precisely what this project is doing here.”
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