Arroyo: Aquino administration ‘discounted’ the RoRo project

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrived in Bacolod City yesterday and announced intentions to revive and expand the nautical highway, or the Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) transport system, which she spearheaded during her tenure as president.
According to the former president, the project was canceled during the administration of her successor Benigno Aquino III.
“We built many RoRo ports all over the country, but mostly in the Visayas, and I was so sad to hear a few years ago that the administration after mine discontinued the rest of the RoRo port projects,” she said.
Arroyo said she will convene a House of Representatives oversight committee to determine the status of the country’s ports and how to improve them.
Following her announcement, the speaker boarded the RoRo vessel M/V Reyna Kleopatra of Montenegro Shipping Lines bound for Dumangas, Iloilo, in order to observe what needed improvement.
Once in Dumangas, Arroyo met with officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Maritime Industry Authority, Philippine Ports Authority, Philippine Coast Guard, and the Department of Public Works and Highways to review the status of existing RoRo ports in the region.
As president, Macapagal-Arroyo created the Road RoRo Transport System, a project designed to carry rolling stock cargo. The system was part of the 919-kilometer Republic Nautical Highway that connected the major islands of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao through an integrated network of highway and vehicular ferry routes./DGB, WDJ