Officials inspect the newly reconstructed P150 million worth Lamitan City seaport which was opened to public use on Friday. JOHN UNSON
The new P150 million worth seaport in the province is expected to spur an economic boom that can weaken violent Islamic militants who are using unemployment to stoke public hatred to the government.
The newly built seaport in Lamitan City, capital of the island province of Basilan, was opened to public use on Friday.
Chief Supt. Theodore Sindac, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), told The STAR on Saturday that he is sure the newly expanded seaport will generate livelihood opportunities for local folks.
“It will help hasten the restoration of normalcy in communities badly affected by armed conflicts in previous years,” Sindac said.
Lamitan City and neighboring towns are home to mixed Muslim and Christian settlers engaged in the propagation of rubber trees, coconuts, coffee and exotic orchards like Lanzones and Mangosteen.
There are also big dried fish industries in seaside towns in the province, a component area of ARMM, which also covers Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Local traders and entrepreneurs sell their products to buyers in Zamboanga City, an hour away from the island province by sea, and other trading centers in the country reachable only by boats.
“Employment generated by economic activities can help foster peace in the local communities. Without jobs, unemployed adventurists become susceptible to recruitment by lawless elements,” Sindac said.
It took engineers almost a year to expand the old Lamitan City port, according to Engineer Soler Undug, chief of the Basilan District Engineering Office (DEO).
Abu Sayyaf bandits opposed to the expansion of the Lamitan City seaport thrice attempted to execute Undug using powerful improvised explosive devices, worried of its impact to the local economy once accomplished.
The port was turned over on Friday to the city government of Lamitan led by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and his older sibling Basilan Gov. Jim Hataman.
Engineer Don Loong, ARMM’s public works secretary, was also present in the turnover rite, capped off with the opening of the port to public use.
The 220-day implementation of the port expansion project involved the Basilan DEO, the Department of Public Works and Highways-ARMM and the Santiago Construction Company.
Undug said the old port was expanded to boost the connectivity of Lamitan City and all towns in Basilan to trading centers in Mindanao and other parts of the country.
The project was bankrolled with a P150 million grant from the annual infrastructure subsidy of ARMM from the national government.
The yearly infrastructure budget, allocated for various projects in the region with permission from the House of Representatives and Senate, is channeled through the Office of the Regional Governor, touted as the “Little Malacañang” of the autonomous region.
Undug said they have extended the structurally obsolete ramp of the Lamitan City port by 80 meters. The port's deck was also widened by 21 meters, he added.
“Now it is enough for berthing of large `roll-on and roll-off ships’ carrying passengers, small vehicles and trucks loaded with goods from major trading ports in nearby regions,” Undug said on Saturday.
The vice mayor of Lamitan City, Roderick Furigay, who is a senior member of the city’s peace and order council, said they are expecting an immediate increase in importation of consumer goods from other parts of the country by local merchants following the expansion of their port.
“We are in an island province separated from major trading centers in the country by seas. Without this facility, we can hardly take off economy-wise,” Furigay said.
Lamitan City has barely bounced back from the devastation wrought by conflicts in past decades.
Furigay said they are also expecting an increase in local revenues as a consequence of a foreseeable boom in trading activities the expansion of the port will bring in.
Senior Supt. Nickson Muksan, Basilan’s provincial police director, said they will secure the port tightly to ensure the safety of all ships that are to dock in the facility.
“We acknowledge the importance of economic activities in curbing lawlessness,” Muksan said.
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