GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) needs around PHP20 million for the immediate repair of the port of Glan in Sarangani Province that was damaged by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake last April 29.
Jerome Barranco, Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-Region 12 assistant director, said Monday such figure was based on the latest assessment conducted by the agency on the damages incurred by the facility as a result of the quake.
He said the temblor, which was felt at Intensity 5 in the area, specifically caused major cracks at the main wharf area and destroyed portions of the PPA district office.
An earlier situation report released by OCD-12 cited the port as “totally damaged,” with the wharf area sinking by about 15 centimeters.
“The entire port remains closed right now as it was deemed unsafe to any port-related activity,” Barranco told the Philippine News Agency.
The official said PPA officials decided to just repair the port after earlier considering its transfer to another site.
He said the PHP20 million funding being sought by the agency will cover for the design and the repair works on the facility.
The repair will require the re-digging and re-filling of the reclaimed portions of the port and the replacement of the damaged wharf, he said.
The Glan Port’s expansion, which received a funding of around PHP75 million, was only completed three years ago.
Placed under the administrative jurisdiction of the PPA in 2012, the port has a total area of around 1,000,000 square meters.
The facility, which had been declared as a limited international port, is classified as an alternate port of the General Santos or Makar Port here.
It was included in the Roll On, Roll Off or RoRo shipping route in the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area or BIMP-EAGA.
The coastal municipality of Glan is the closest locality in the province to the quake’s epicenter, which was traced off the seas of Sarangani town in Davao Occidental.
Several other private and government structures were damaged due to the quake, which was considered the strongest that hit the area in recent years.
(AVE/PNA)
