Sea-transport pushed to lessen traffic woes

CEBU, Philippines —  The Department of Tourism (DOT-7) is now in talks with the Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) for the development of Cebu’s intra-province sea transportation access.

DOT-7 regional director Shalimar H. Tamano announced yesterday that his office has already presented its proposal for the development of sea-transport option as a way of avoiding traffic.

This initiative is pushed following a strong call from the private sector to fix the docking areas in Cebu to help ease the worsening traffic crossing to and from Cebu and Mactan Island.

Major resorts and hotels in Mactan, along with other capitalists, are willing to invest in providing water taxis to help decongest traffic on the bridges, “but the problem is our docking areas. There’s no place to dock in Cebu,” said Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists (CATOS) president Alice Queblatin.

According to Queblatin, there are already few resorts in Mactan, as well as other transportation providers who invested on water taxis, but this traffic solution will not be realized unless the government starts fixing the docking areas.

Existing water taxis from Mactan, Queblatin said have difficulties docking at the Cebu port. Some water taxis have to wait for 45 minutes or so after they can disembark their passengers.

“Docking facilities in Cebu is a problem,” Queblatin reiterated adding that while South Road Properties (SRP) has good docking area, security within the area is also another big concern.

She said tourists and customers are willing to pay for water taxis, even investors are also willing to add more water buses but Cebu has to improve its port infrastructure.

Aside from CPA, Tamano is also coordinating closely with Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

Tamano is taking the lead in airing out the concerns of the tourism stakeholders in Cebu to the concerned government agencies, emphasizing that it is important to provide utmost convenience especially to tourists and sea transport is one of the easiest solutions.

Mounting routes through fast crafts from Mactan to the north like Bantayan, Camotes and Malapascua islands and from Mactan to the south like Oslob, Badian and Sumilon will help cut the travel time of tourists giving them more time to spend and enjoy these destinations.