State-owned Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is set to complete about 30 more port projects by the end of the year, despite the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
These include the Port of Calapan’s new passenger terminal building that can accommodate 3,500 passengers and the dedicated cruise port at the Jubang Port in Surigao del Norte.
PPA earlier said 117 seaport projects are under construction, of which 30 will be completed by yearend while theremaining projects are expected to be finished beyond 2022.
To date, PPA along with the Department of Transportation completed 446 port projects under the Duterte administration’s Build, Build, Build program.
Based on the result of the latest Port Users’ Annual Satisfaction Survey released by the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), PPA secured the very satisfactory level in three of the biggest key indicators: facilities, integrity, and staff and organization.
The survey was conducted by the DAP across PPA’s 25 Port Management Offices nationwide involving 800 port users and passengers as respondents.
The report showed that under the Duterte administration, PPA’s scorecard had a steady uptrend, with the highest score posted in 2020 with a satisfaction rating of 85.96 percent.
From 2016 to 2019, PPA registered a satisfaction rating of 75 percent, 84 percent, 82 percent and 82.4 percent, respectively. PPA said these figures are an uptick from its annual satisfaction rating of only 63 percent under the previous administration.
The report further revealed that overall, PPA was able to deliver satisfactory services across all covered attributes, with facilities, integrity, and staff and organization earning highest ratings.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, respondents feel safe and secure inside the ports. They also agreed that the ports have measures to promote integrity and address corruption while PPA personnel have neat appearances, professionals, convey trust and confidence and treat customers with respect,” the report said.
In the first half of the year, Philippine cargo traffic volume increased by 19 percent to 127.4 million metric tons (MMT) from 107 MMT in the same period last year.
PPA said container traffic handled in January to June this year rose by 21 percent to 3.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) versus last year same period’s 2.98 million TEUs.
