DOTr chief leads turnover of new 

passenger terminal bldg in Port of Tagbilaran

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, April 20 (PIA) -- In a bid to make Bohol more globally competitive especially to international travelers, the Department of Transportation (DOTr), through the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), turned over to Bohol a new two-storey Passenger Terminal Building (PTB II).

The PTB sits on a 1,843.37-square meter area where the old PTB was located before the 2013 earthquake rendered it unsafe.

The new PTB II expands the passenger capacity of the port’s existing PTB 1 which can sit only 497 passengers.

Now with the new two-storey building, which can comfortably 613 more passengers, the Port of Tagbilaran can accommodate a total of over a thousand passengers.

The problem with overloaded and jam-packed PTB plagued the Port of Tagbilaran prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with schedules of at least two fast craft trips per hour and each vessel accommodating over 300 passengers.

With the PTB I capacity only at little less than 500, waiting passengers have to stand at the terminal lobby and wait for their boarding calls.

This will no longer be a concern with the new infrastructure project after the Port of Tagbilaran, which was devastated by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2013, is now officially open.

with the completion of the new PTB, the Port of Tagbiliran is now a beacon of change, as DOTr Sec. Arthur Tugade and PPA General Manager Jay Santiago spared no time to improve this much-needed port transport infrastructure since the Duterte Administration started in 2016, according to a press statement from the DOTr.

The opening was marked by the formal inauguration of the facility with the unveiling of the marker of the PTB II.

That same day, Tugade, Santiago, House Transportation Committee Chair Edgar Sarmiento, Engr. James Gantalao of PPA Tagbilaran, and Gov. Arthur Yap also visited and inspected the Tagbilaran Office of the Land Transportation Office, the soon-to-be completed Port of Maribojoc, and the improved Port of Catagbacan in Loon.

These major port projects form part of the 22 big-ticket port infrastructure projects of the DOTr and the PPA in the province of Bohol.

DOTr has promised to complete the P2.3-B projects when Pres. Rodrigo Duterte ends his term in June 2022. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

MORE SEATS. With the new Passenger Terminal Building (PTB II) now officially open at the Port of Tagbilaran City, over 600 seats have been added to the seating capacity of the old terminal. With two 300-seater fast crafts leaving every hour, the old PTB could hardly accommodate waiting passengers. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

THE NEW TWO-STOREY PTB. The Passenger Terminal Building II is now open to serve local and international travelers in comfort. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)