The Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is allotting P100 million this year to continue construction of the “container highway” connecting the province of Bukidnon to the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT)., both in southern Philippines.
The project’s first phase is complete. The second phase entails construction of the remaining 17-kilometer stretch up to junction National Highway in the industrial town of Tagoloan in Misamis Oriental where MCT is located. The project’s total cost is P1 billion. It is expected to be completed by 2013.
“We are really pushing for completion of the Alae by-pass road that will connect Bukidnon with the port,” Phividec port department manager Dante Clarito told PortCalls.
“Once complete it will facilitate movement of goods in the region that will eventually result in lower shipping cost.”
The Alae by-pass road aims to decongest traffic in Puerto, Cagayan de Oro City and gives large trucks an alternative to the dangerous zigzagging Puerto-Alae section of Sayre Highway. The alternate route is expected to particularly benefit companies using MCT and trucks coming from central and southern Mindanao.
MCT cargo volume has seen double-digit growth in the last three years. In 2011, MCT handled 210,507 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), 17% more than the previous year’s 180,000 TEUs and slightly higher than the target of 210,000 TEUs for 2011.
