MAASIN CITY-Southern Leyte Rep.Roger Mercado was thankful to President Rodrigo Duterte for giving instructions to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to improve the connectivity and accessibility of their province.
Mercado said that even before the President made the order to DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, the agency chief had already committed to provide fund for the implementation of various transportation-related projects in Southern Leyte.
These include the expansion of the Maasin City Airport runway and the improvements of several sea ports across the province.
“The seamless connectivity and efficient travel of tourists from airports or ports to tourists’ destinations can encourage visitors to come again,” Rep.Mercado said.
Mercado, in coordination with the provincial government, conducted the first-ever two-day Tourism, Environment, and Agriculture (TEA) Summit which aim to help boost primarily the tourism and agriculture sectors of the province.
The expansion of the airport runway will allow bigger planes to land at the Maasin City Airport which currently operates for Air Juan plane using a nine-seater Grand Cessna Caravan for Cebu-Maasin flight.
Airline passengers from Southern Leyte who will travel by plane to Metro Manila needs to take three to four hours land travel to the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City which has a daily Cebu, Clark, and Manila flights.
“I am confident that the national government will provide funding for this project not because the President gives us favor because he was born in Maasin but because these are development projects that will support the sustainable livelihood of our people and better economy of the province,” Rep. Mercado said.
DOTr Sec. Tugade, who attended the July 3-4 TEA Summit re-echoed Pres.Duterte’s message to the residents on Southern Leyte on the importance of connectivity.
Tugade said Southern Leyte’s ‘connectivity’ will help boost its local economy, to include its tourism industry.
Sec. Tugade led in the inauguration of the Maasin City Airport Terminal expanding its passenger capacity from 50 to 150.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
