North-South Mindanao Expressway Pushed

DAVAO CITY — A Northern to Southern Mindanao link—a main corridor like a Davao-Cagayan expressway—that would enable greater mobility of goods and people is now being pushed by Mindanao logistics and infrastructure industry players.

“We would like to sell the idea of an integrated logistics highway or corridor; one that would connect Northern and Southern Mindanao, two big economic centers in the region, that will propel Mindanao’s socio-economic development,” said Mr. Vic Lagdamen, president of the Mindanao Federation of Shippers’ Association (MINFESA).

The said proposal will be presented to the government during the first Mindanao Logistics Conference this week November 25 to 26 in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental with the theme: “Southern-Northern Mindanao Logictics Corridor: Key to Fast Track its Economic Development.”

Lagdamen, who spearheaded the conference’s regional consultation here recently, said that the “expressway” would not necessarily be the one passing through the current national highway, as long as it will “facilitate for a faster movement of goods and people”.

He also said that while the Northern-Mindanao link is being pushed as a main corridor, the proposed integrated logistics and transportation plan should also include the Zamboanga, Caraga and other regions in Mindanao.

Mindanao is yet to have an integrated logistics and transportation plan, he said.

He said that the plan should figure significantly with the recent infrastructure boost in Mindanao, wherein major infrastructure were recently built like the Mindanao Container Terminal, along with the expansion of seaports and airports, and improvement of national roads.

“It is high time for Mindanao to have something like a logistics corridor given that infrastructure development in Mindanao is being fast tracked, and most especially since MEDCo is now currently formulating the Mindanao 2020 Peace and Development Framework Plan,” said Usec. Virgilio Leyretana, chairman of the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo).

Infrastructures are the arteries for progress, they provide access to economic opportunities for the depressed and vulnerable rural communities by opening new areas for economic development and linking the production areas with the urban centers and market, he said.

“The shift to logistics infrastructure should be a more comprehensive approach in tackling the overall logistics needs of Mindanao,” Lagdamen said, noting that the cold chain and banana industries will also be among focus topics.

A “banana logistics corridor in Mindanao” has been identified as one of the topics in the two-day conference. Banana exports continued to remain the top 2 Mindanao export raking in US$456.11 million in 2008, a 16.12 percent increase from 2007’s US$392.8 million, according to MEDCo data.

The conference also had its consultations in Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga that will gather sectoral issues and concerns and will be presented in the conference.

Lagdamen said that they will not only forward the conference resolutions to concerned agencies like the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) but to aspiring presidential candidates saying that “the new administration should already have a buy-in into the idea”.

Some international players like foreign shipping industries are also expected to attend the 200-strong delegation of shippers, shipping lines, cargo forwarders, service providers, and representatives from private sector and government agencies.

The port director of the Muara Port in Brunei Darussalam is also expected to be one of the conference speakers which would highlight port and infrastructure development thrust in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) sub-regional cooperation, Lagdamen said.

“Luzon is ahead of us in planning its own integrated logistics corridor and building expressways, interconnecting its ports and airports. It is high time for Mindanao to plan its own future and face the global challenge,” a statement from the conference brochure says. MEDCo