President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday graced the opening of Liloan, Cebu’s Pier 88 which is seen to improve connectivity as it serves commuters and cargo from Bohol, Camotes Islands, Leyte and Metro Cebu.
Marcos Jr. said Pier 88 delivers and achieves several public services and developmental goals.
“Public infrastructure, transport development, road traffic decongestion, but there is a — the Governor hit the nail on the head when she said that these are just parts of a bigger system that we will synchronize and put together. At the face of it, for example, we have now this Pier 88. We now have a ferry service. We talked about Camotes Islands, and we think of course that is going to be good for Liloan, it’s going to be good for Camotes, but it doesn’t end there,” he said.
He said opening the installation will also resolve problems with supply chain networks, as part of his government’s quest “for a more smooth and more streamlined and more accessible and easier to use (network), therefore making the ease of doing business.”
“And so, this is for example, here in this example that we have here before us, we talked about the tourism industry which will be improved by that. But this is not just the tourism for Liloan, for Cebu, for Camotes Islands,” he said.
Improving connectivity, Mr. Mrcos said, will make not only bring Filipinos from one place to another but enable them to do business and open up economic activities.
“Today, we put in place a very important piece of that puzzle, that puzzle that we are trying to put together so that our connectivity, not only amongst the islands of the Philippines but even amongst our international friends and visitors and tourists is strengthened and made easier and more made more accessible. These are the important aspects that we have to attend to if we are going to transform our economy into a post-pandemic economy,” he said.
In October 2019, Pier 88 broke ground and its inauguration was in 2021.
It was a public-private partnership between the Municipality of Liloan, Pier 88 Ventures Inc., Topline Group of Companies, Vikingland Corporation and FL Port Management Corporation.
Deputy Speaker Duke Frasco of Cebu earlier said Pier 88 will decongest the traffic in northern Metro Cebu, particularly in Consolacion and Mandaue City “by providing an alternative mode to land transport via sea transport from Liloan to Mactan and Cebu City.”
Pier 88 is seen to benefit residents from the northern parts of Cebu who travel via commuting daily to go to their workplaces in the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu, and will significantly cut their travel time by half.