LINGAYEN GULF TRANSPORT LINK

Mayors confident that project will be viable

ALAMINOS CITY–The first tri-ferry service across the Lingayen Gulf will soon be a reality following the slated signing of the memorandum of agreement for the project by the three Local Government Units (LGUs) that joined hands for the project.

City Mayor Hernani Braganza said he will sign the MOA in Dagupan City with Mayors Alipio Fernandez Jr. of Dagupan and Pablo Ortega of San Fernando by the first week of March.

“For us three mayors’, it’s all systems go as far as the desire to build and establish a ferry system within Alaminos, Dagupan and San Fernando is concerned,” Braganza said.

The three mayors has had a series of meetings in the past, the most recent was in San Fernando City last week hosted by Department of Tourism Regional Director Martin Valera.

The DOT has actively joined in the planning of the project since the planned ferry service is expected to stimulate and generate tourist traffic between tourist destinations in the region.

“We are looking at the tourist markets of Baguio and the surrounding areas to provide added justification for the project,” he added.

The last meeting was attended by Mayors Braganza and Ortega and Dagupan City Planning Coordinator Romeo Rosario, representing Mayor Fernandez.

In that meeting, they all agreed that a MOA detailing their respective participation and contributions to the project will help fast-track the realization of the project.

This early, Dagupan City Administrator Alvin Fernandez indicated that the city has already set aside a portion of its annual budget as its contribution to the development and implementation of the ferry system.

Braganza said his city is prepared to meet its commitment to the project.

He said Ortega also assured him that funding is no problem with San Fernando City.

Dagupan reportedly aims to buy one ferry boat to be used in the Alaminos-Dagupan-San Fernando ferry system and plans to use a crane-way built by the contractor of the new Pantal bridge to be developed into a wharf.

Each of the three participating cities must build their own wharfs for the berthing of ferry boats.

Braganza said that while a feasibility study on the project has yet to be completed, they have agreed that at least four boats to be purchased by the participating cities will be used in the initial run.

“We have a gut feel among us mayors that this will be a very, very viable project,” he said.

He added that he and the planning officer of San Fernando City already visited a motor boat factory in Calamba, Laguna from whom they can purchase ferry boats.

The mayor did not mention the name of the boat manufacturer although he said he is a Filipino and has been long in the business.

He said they have seen some designs of boats and one proto-type can reportedly negotiate Alaminos to San Fernando in one and a half hours or less.

After signing the MOA, the three mayors will meet to decide on the amount of investments that they will commit for the project based on the feasibility study that they expect to be submitted soon.

Mayor Fernandez earlier said the three cities will only pioneer the ferry service and will be prepared to sell and turn over the operations to an interested private investor.

“We are doing it in our desire to promote our region’s economic activities, particularly tourism,” Braganza said, citing the number of tourists from Baguio that can boost Alaminos’s and the Hundred Islands tourism revenues.

He added that the ferry system will enhance the dine and shop environment of Dagupan City, the location of several shopping malls while encourage more foreign tourists to visit San Fernando, the regional capital, to play at its casino located at Poro Point.—LM

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