Lack of business research, preparation and support from the government may hamper and even result to the cessation of operation of a fastcraft from Lupon, Davao Oriental to Davao City.
This, after Danspent General Services, Inc owner Dante P. Sapalo, incurred losses amounting to P7 million due to the absence of a proper docking facility in Lupon, where his fast craft used to provide up to three round trips on a daily basis.
“We used to ferry up to 500 passengers daily but now about 60 percent of the passengers have stopped taking the fast craft kay dili na man sila makatabok (they can no longer transfer from the fast craft to the port),” Sapalo said.
Sapalo’s P30 million investment created excitement in the Davao region even when it was still in the inception stage. For one, it would reduce travel time between Davao City and Lupon from three hours by land to only one hour and twenty minutes via fast craft travelling at 22 knots per hour.
Entrepreneur Ramil Corbeta even spearheaded an Empanada Festival last March 25, to promote travel between Davao City and Lupon, A total of 10,000 empanadas were given to the public for free during that day, and some were even used for the locality’s feeding program for children.
The fast craft originally targeted Lupon as its docking area as it is the shortest distance between the two provinces, and is also only 45 minutes to Mati, the capital city of Davao Oriental.
Fare on the fast craft was pegged at P250 per passenger on the sundeck, P300 in the air-conditioned economy class with television, and P350 in the business class. Business was good in the past five months with three round trips daily. Each trip of the fast craft can carry 125 passengers.
Sapalo lamented the lack of a proper docking facility in Lupon for the fast craft despite proper coordination with the local government prior to the start of the project. He constructed a 70-meter long pontoon bridge (a floating dock) to allow passengers a safe walkway, but this proved to be temporary only as monsoon waves made crossing difficult for the passengers.
As a remedy, the company transferred to the docking area in Punta Linao, Banaybanay which is next to the town of Lupon. “Had we started operations in Linao we would have two fast crafts by now,” he said.
Sapalo has provided free shuttle service to fast craft passengers from Punta Linao to Lupon. Despite this, passengers complain about the distance from Banaybanay to Lupon and Mati City,
Sapalo expects his losses to build up as the fast craft has been reduced to one round trip per day only. A lot of the passengers who opted for the fast craft before have gone back to taking the bus since their main destination is really Lupon.
Sapalo said the Philippine Ports Authority has assured him of the plan to build a better docking area in Lupon where the fast craft was originally stationed. However, he said, there is no timetable as to when the PPA will build the docking area.
Lupon, one of the municipalities in the province of Davao Oriental, has over 60,000 people occupying its 88,639-hectare area. The province has identified fast crafts as one of the major investment areas for Lupon to help boost its agriculture, tourism, and business in general.
While a local businessman like Sapalo has gambled his hard-earned money on a fast craft for Lupon, this investment will go for naught if the government fails to provide the necessary infrastructure needed to make Lupon and the whole of Davao Oriental more accessible to travellers. [Lovely A. Carillo]
