by RG Alama

Davao City (13 February) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is slated to grace the inauguration of the P420-million Port of Davao expansion project this Friday (Feb.13) at the Sasa Wharf in the City.

Inauguration ceremonies will be held at around 1 a.m. in the afternoon, the President who has identified the seaport project as one of her priority projects in Southern Mindanao will be joined by top cabinet officials and local government leaders in the region.

The Port of Davao expansion project started in early 2006. The project has two components mainly Phase I which involves the rehabilitation of an existing 42.35 meter by 18 meter quay and Phase II or the port expansion phase includes the construction of a 3,179 square meter Reinforced Concrete (RC) Wharf, the 13,180 square meter back-up area, mooring and fendering area, drainage system, port lighting and rockworks.

Phase II of the project was recently completed last Dec. 2, 2008.

The seaport expansion aims to decongest the growing Sasa wharf which posted a growth of 3.8% in 2007. It is one of the premiere export and import hubs in Mindanao and ranks fourth nationwide next only to the larger ports in Manila in terms of container cargo traffic and volume performance.

The Port of Davao's proximity amidst the steadily growing banana and fresh fruit plantations in the Davao Region puts it in the world map as the leading conduit of high-value agricultural exports mostly for the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), China, Japan, Korea, the Middle East and the Unites States markets.