South Palawan economy seen to flourish in 2018

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1012972
• Thursday, October 19, 2017 12:58 pm

By Celeste Anna Formoso (PNA)

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – A 50-km. PHP900-million road project in the town of Bataraza in Palawan province, which will connect to the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) roll-on/roll-off port, is expected to boost southern Palawan’s economy before the end of the year.

Provincial information officer Gil Acosta Jr. said Tuesday the road project that would connect “the bustling mining community” of Barangay Rio Tuba to Barangay Buliluyan in Bataraza is expected to be completed soon.

“It will link the BIMP-EAGA roll-on/roll-off (RORO) port in Buliluyan to the arterial road network in the mainland when it opens its doors in the first quarter of 2018 for tourists and merchants from destinations like Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia,” Acosta said in a statement.

The flow of people, goods, and services to and from Palawan from these countries will likely commence, he added.

“The efforts of Palawan Governor Jose Alvarez to make things happen for the southern Palawan economy is about to pay off. While the neighboring northern Palawan is basking in the limelight of economic development, attributed primarily to its thriving tourism industry, the south has somewhat lackadaisically maintained the status quo in the last decade. Tied up to its modest agriculture industry, southern Palawan’s economy is unable to keep pace with the robust growth of the tourism-rich north in the race for economic progress,” Acosta said.

However, with the infrastructure developments, the economic landscape in southern Palawan is set to change, he said.

“At the onset of Alvarez’ administration in 2013, the provincial government has put a premium on the development of southern Palawan’s important infrastructure facilities,” he added.

Quick to capitalize on the economic upswing, some of the country’s top companies, among them Del Monte Philippines, Kennemer Foods, Agumil, and Singapore’s Lionheart Ltd., are now establishing their respective bases of operations in the south in the municipalities of Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, Rizal, Quezon and Sofronio Espaňola.

Acosta said with President Rodrigo Duterte pushing for BIMP-EAGA to drive growth, believing it is a locomotive for stronger cooperation and development among member countries, the province would partner with the national and local governments in “putting up projects that would improve the delivery of basic services like water, electricity, roads and bridges, airports and seaports, school buildings and hospitals in southern Palawan, in anticipation of the economic boom.”

“As Governor Alvarez puts it, ‘We must increase our agricultural production to cope with the food requirements of the growing population and the expected influx of tourists to our shores in the years to come,’” he said.