PGMA eyes completion of Eastern Nautical Highway projects

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
May 2, 2008

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  After the successful launching of the Central Nautical Highway, President Arroyo is now eyeing the fast-tracking of government projects on the Eastern Nautical Highway, the last segment of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway.

"I instruct the DOTC and the DPWH to work now on the Eastern Nautical Highway: Pilar, Sorsogon to Masbate to Naval, Biliran to Leyte Island to Surigao City," the President said during the 2nd SRNH conference on April 30 at the Xavier Estates along Airport Road in Cagayan de Oro City attended by about 300 businessmen and government officials.

To complement the Eastern Nautical Highway, the President ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to rehabilitate roads in the Pan-Philippine or Maharlika Highway linking Samar to Luzon.

The President specifically instructed the DPWH to fix the old Maharlika Highway and to fast-track the Hinabangan-Catbalogan-Calbayog portion.

The Strong Republic Nautical Highway which was conceived by President Arroyo in 2002, is composed of three major routes: the Western Nautical Highway (WNH), the Central Nautical Highway (CNH) and the Eastern Nautical Highway (ENH).

The SRNH was launched when the Western Nautical Highway was completed in 2003 linking Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Roxas, Mindoro Oriental and Caticlan, Aklan, cutting the travel time between Dapitan to Batangas port by 12 hours and on to any point of Luzon by land.

The President said the SRNH was conceived in 2002 when she presented to the Cabinet a work program to reduce transport costs from the food basket of Mindanao to the large consuming population of Luzon, by decreasing handling and wharfage costs.

The President thanked in particular former Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) senior vice president Marietto Enecio who retired March this year. The President said, pulled from the DBP filing cabinet, an obscure master plan of a Sustainable Logistics Development Plan initiated by their SVP Marietto Enecio made up of 48 Road and Roll-on-Roll-off routes.

The RO-RO operations have changed the way industries do business citing as an example the Nestle plant here which kept its prices steady despite the worldwide surge in the price of milk, the President said.

Furthermore, the President said the SRNH also contributed to the generation of jobs and upsurge in tourism traffic nationwide including in Dapitan which recorded a 200 percent increase last year.

Exhorting the people to "roll our sleeves and join hands," the President said that the ultimate ultimate beneficiaries of RO-RO are the people. RO-RO is a fulfillment of the vision based on a strong and growing economy.