Buccaneer businessman eyes North Harbor monopoly
The ongoing “unrest” that has been gripping portions of the Manila North Harbor, particularly the area fronting the former Smokey Mountain garbage dump, is not about dock workers or small stakeholders who are claiming they are going to be economically displaced once the multi-billion modernization project goes on stream, but about certain businessmen seeking economic enhancement by stamping their dominance over the nation’s largest and busiest port. Why the North Harbor? Well, it is a gem in the rough. While right now it may be one of the most inhospitable places in Manila, being a highly depressed locale with its filthy and dilapidated facilities, not to mention thousands of squatters living nearby, thus contributing to the high incidence of crime, it does hold promise of becoming a modern passenger and cargo hub given the proper infrastructure inputs. And more significantly, according to sources in the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), it accounts for some 70 percent of the country’s local shipping volume and even more if accorded the right impetus.... MORE Source: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100715com4.html |
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