By Jezza A. Nepomoceno

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) recently finalized the proposed rehabilitation plans for the Concepcion port, which was ravaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

“We decided to invest a lot of energy in the early stages of the design,” said UNOPS Project Manager Paolo Zorzoli. “In order to be sure that we are designing and producing good infrastructure, we have to meet and understand the people’s needs, and the only way to do that is to spend time with them.”

The design was created after gathering around 300 comments, suggestions, and concerns from various sectors.

According to Zorzoli, the detailed engineering design should be completed by January 2018, which will be followed by the preparation of construction documents and the bidding process.

The port rehabilitation will include the conversion of the existing wet market into a passenger terminal, improvements to restaurant stalls, and reclamation of the new fish port complex. With total pavement area of 6,500 square meters, it will be able to accommodate the construction of new wet market and causeway./JAN, WDJ