Privatization of the port of Pulupandan to revive the local economy

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) sees better economic prospects in Negros Occidental with the recent privatization of the government port of Pulupandan in the south of the province.

On May 2, the PPA transferred management of the port to Globalport Terminals Inc. under a 15-year concession agreement with a contract price of 527 million pesos.

Nelson Caabay Jr., acting port manager for the Port Management Office of Negros Occidental/Bacolod/Banago Bredco, said on Tuesday that the 12-hectare wharf, which was once the province’s premier port, had become an “elephant white” in the past. several years that no ship docked in the area.

“We are very confident that with Globalport taking over management, it will bring back the glory days of Pulupandan,” Caabay said in an interview on Radyo Negrense of the Provincial Capitol.

Globalport will take over the management of cargo handling, roll-on, roll-off and other port-related services.

“We will collect (a fee from them) every year for using the port. The PPA entrusted them with the port of Pulupandan to market it. In one week they made two stops,” Caabay said.

He added that the first to benefit from the operations under the new management will be the local government unit since the presence of the port will stimulate economic activities in the community.

Caabay said the PPA is seeking to privatize some government-owned ports and that Pulupandan port is the first in the province to be run by a private contractor.

In Negros Occidental, the base port of the PPA is located at Barangay Banago in this capital and has terminal management offices in the towns of Pulupandan and Hinoba-an in the south and in the towns of San Carlos and Escalante in the north. *NAP