THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will open the country’s largest port passenger terminal building (PTB) by March at the Port of Calapan in Oriental Mindoro.
PPA general manager Jay Santiago said the P353 million expanded PTB is currently 98 percent complete and is scheduled to finish by February 18, 2023, as the agency gears up for the expected demand for sea travel during the summer season.
The PTB is designed to accommodate up to 3,500 passengers at any given time.
“The assessment of the Port Management Office of Mindoro revealed that the completion rate of our PTB is 17 percent ahead of its target schedule and we are set to inaugurate it in March this year,” Santiago said.
It is equipped with several facilities meant to improve the experience of passengers such as a children’s playroom, clinic, a modern elevator and escalator, a prayer room and a breastfeeding station.
The PPA said that after completion, the Port of Calapan will host the largest passenger terminal in the country. However, in December last year, Santiago said that the passenger terminal in Calapan, Mindoro will soon be dwarfed by the capacity of the one being built at the Port of Zamboanga.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) in 2021 invested P316 million to broaden the pier facilities at the Zamboanga Port.
The DOTr likewise used the budget to build a new passenger terminal in the port, with a design capacity of holding 4,500 passengers at any given time.
“The next terminal that we will inaugurate will be the one in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro. This will be the biggest terminal building when it opens, but only for a short while.
“After that, it will be the one in Zamboanga,” Santiago said.