Journey to Samal » Samal-Davao bridge

Ports of Samal Island

Randy C — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:05:30 +0000

Like most of the tourist visitors to Samal Island I usually take one of the passenger ferries from Davao to get there. I was aware of the two main ferry ports on Samal, and the existence of one further down the island near Kaputian. It wasn’t until just recently that I happened to learn there are quite a few more.

I’m always amazed at how difficult it can be for people to find the RORO wharf in Davao. I’ve had both private drivers and taxis get confused as to where it is. I’m afraid I’ve not been a big help because it seems the landmarks I use only add to the confusion. Part of this confusion comes from the fact that there is separate passenger ferry going to Barangay Villarica, Babak District, than the main RORO (Roll-On Roll-Off) that ends up in Kinawitnon, Barangay Caliclic, Babak District. They both leave Davao from Sasa Wharf, Km. 11 Sasa Public Market and Km. 10 Mae Wess Ferry Terminal respectively.

I consider the Caliclic port the main port as it carries vehicles and passengers, including the Island City Express buses that many take to and from various parts of Davao to their destinations on Samal Island. I don’t have the numbers, but as far as I know the bulk of the traffic coming and going to Samal is through this port, especially because of the number of passengers the buses hold.

Those aren’t the only ports though. I count at least six official ones, if you include Talikud.

Samal Island Ports:

Babak
Caliclic
Kaputian
Limao
Peñaplata
Sta. Cruz (Talikud)

The Philippines Ports Authority (PPO) has a great website with all the statistic, maps, diagrams and details you would want about all of the ports in the Davao region, including all the ones on the Island Garden City of Samal. For those interested in this kind of stuff it’s a great resource and well worth your while to check it out – Davao Sasa Wharf.

Samal, Anak Nga Bababye sa Davao

Randy C — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:56:27 +0000

I travel many times a year to the other side of Washington State to visit family. For those not familiar with Washington State (not to be confused with Washington DC), it is the Northwestern most state in the United States. My relatives live in various towns around Seattle, much as I did when I lived in that part of the state. People that are not from the area usually are not familiar with these smaller towns, and I just say that I’m going to Seattle. Some communities are actual suburbs of Seattle, but others like the city I was born, Everett, have just been engulfed within the sprawling growth over the years.

As I was explaining the relationship of Everett and Seattle to a friend, I realized that it is similar in some ways to Samal Island’s relationship to Davao City. Though Samal is separated from Davao via the Pakiputan Straight & the Davao Gulf, when I tell someone of Samal I can not help but mention Davao.

It is possible, but not likely, that you will visit Samal Island without going to Davao first. You could arrive by yacht, as my friend Ellen did. You could also access the east side of Samal and, I suppose, take a boat from Pantukan. With the new RORO ferry system, accessing Samal from the east side will be much more plausible. For now you are more than likely coming from Davao.

Samal Island has many offerings such as the Central Warehouse, local markets, banks, and the usual assortment of smaller stores, including hardware and bakeries. For many important items though, you will need to go to Davao to them or even have them brought in. I had originally thought that if I ended up living on Samal that I would want to go to Davao once every couple of weeks. I think that a more realistic schedule would be once or week. Possibly more.

If the Samal-Davao bridge ever became a reality, Samal would in fact become just a suburb of Davao, IMO. I won’t take up the argument here, but there are those that feel this would be great for Samal, and those that don’t.

When I first started considering this, I thought that Samal was so tied to Davao City that it was like a little sister. That description didn’t quite fit though, as Samal is not anywhere nearly as developed as Davao. No, it is much more like a daughter that is very dependent upon it’s mother. I certainly don’t know what the future holds, but it will be interesting to see if Samal ever becomes independent enough to establish itself from Davao, or if it will remain forever dependent on it’s mother.

Photo credit: Arnob66′s via Travelpod

Samal Island Circumferential Road Project Proposed

Randy C — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 02:45:20 +0000

If you read any of my articles after my return from visiting Samal Island last year you’ll surely remember my feelings regarding the ability to drive around the island. My biggest complaint was the condition of the Circumferential Road, which is the “main” road on the island. Parts of it are paved, but much (most) of it is not.

It seemed to me that road was in even worse shape than I remembered from the previous trip, two years prior. The areas around the subdivision developments were particularly shocking to me, as I expected those would be developed along with the subdivisions, but in many cases these were even worse from what appeared to be the heavy use due to the construction.

It was with great pleasure that I read the news, presented by Department of Tourism (DOT)-XI Regional Director Art Boncato, that Samal is due to concrete the (entire?) Circumferential Road. As part of a master list of projects from around the country, Samal will have P1.534 billion allocated to the project which is expected to be implemented in phases. There was no word given on when the project was expected to start, or for that matter complete.

As part of the article, there was also mention of the notorious Samal-Davao bridge, and possibly tying that into a project that would transfer the Davao Airport to Samal? I wasn’t sure I had read that correctly, but that seems to be in a proposal that Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario has made. I’m just speechless in regards to that proposal. I’ll reserve any comments until l have more facts.

“The island is so promising that you have to have the right vision for the development of tourism in Samal,” he stressed. Dir. Boncato and Reider visited the governor at the Tahanan ng Lalawigan in Tagum City to refer the proposed priority tourism projects for the province. Gov. del Rosario was delighted that the circumferential road project will finally be realized to boost up tourism and advance socio-economic development in the island city. “If you’re looking at really developing the whole island, you cannot separate the circumferential road project,” the governor said.

As with all projects that I see announced around the various areas of the country, there can be quite a lag between the announcement and the actual implementation of the project. In some cases, shall I mention the bridge again?, there never is any implementation. I’ll watch this one closely, as I believe it is critical to the health and growth of Samal Island. Not just for the resorts or tourism, but for the basic development of the island.

Gov’t to build P1.5B circumferential road.

Photo credit: Paul David Lewin | Digypho Studio Philippines

Tagpopongan Roro Port Half Finished

Randy C — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:18:56 +0000

As I mentioned a year and a half ago, Samal Island is set to receive a new RoRo ferry terminal. This one to be on the east side of the island. According to Dredging Today (everyone reads that, right?) the work is about half finished on the Samal section of the new port.

I try to stay away from directly copying an article, but I’m feeling lazy today, and don’t want to spend the time rewording what they already said. So here is the article in all it’s glory, with credit to them of course:

Tagpopongan Port

According to the ESD Manager Engr. Asterio Gallardo, Jr., the said port project is now 50.94 percent accomplished as of December 25, 2010 and is ahead by 4.6 percent of its actual 430-day contract time. Contracted by MRB Construction and Supply (MRBCS), it is scheduled to be fully accomplished by August 11, 2011.

Engr. Gallardo revealed that the project should have been finished as early as February 11, 2011 based on its original contract time with MRBCS. The date of the effectivity of the said contract was set on December 8, 2009 yet.

However, construction schedule has been stalled twice for justifiable reasons such as the Election Ban starting on February 12, 2010 and the President Benigno Aquino’s Suspension Order No. 01 for all Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) infrastructure projects beginning on July 21, 2010. Overall, the project has incurred 181 days in delay, albeit legitimate.

The P37.79 million infrastructure project covers the following civil works: the construction of 9X12 meter Roll On Roll Off (RoRo) Ramp, a 21X12 meter reinforced concrete wharf and a 58 meter rock causeway.

Tagpopongan Port, located in the southern part of Island Garden City of Samal (IGACoS) in Davao del Norte will soon form part of a network of RoRo-capable ports nationwide as a lateral link of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH).

Alongside this development, the Pantukan RoRo Port, situated across Tagpopongan, is also underway. It also has the same features as the latter except that its rock causeway is only 15 meters.

Although construction of both ports have been bid out and contracted at the same time, Pantukan is faced with another cause of delay – the resolution of its road right of way in addition to the above cited legitimate suspensions.

Still, PPA has been able to push through with an 11 percent of Pantukan’s program of work and is positive that the Local Government Unit (LGU) will be able to resolve its access problem within 2011.

Once completed, Pantukan Port, situated in neighboring Compostela Valley Province, is set to directly connect with Tagpopongan Port in IGACoS and vice versa, making exchanges of goods, people and services between the two municipalities faster and more frequent in the area through sea transport.

Likewise, both LGUs here are open to the idea of plying buses and fastcrafts for the two routes in a move to shorten travel cycles using the RoRo concept like that of the current Davao City-IGACoS-Davao City short-haul trips .

Then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has earlier envisioned linking all adjacent islands by strengthening connectivity through the Road-RoRo Transport System (RRTS).

By using RoRo ports and vessels, travel time is significantly reduced, hence, opening up greater opportunities for local economies such as the Davao Region to participate in trade, transport and tourism activities on a larger scale. (PPA XI PDO-SoMin)

Reference: Dredging Today – Philippines: Tagpopongan Roro Port Now 50% Complete.

Taking Off the Rose Colored Glasses

Randy C — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 04:00:05 +0000

As much as I’ve been trying to put off writing this article, I guess I better get it done as the comments seem to be heading more and more in this direction. I just want to state up front that I love Samal Island, and I feel that I’ve been a very strong ambassador for the island ever since I started this blog. Since that time I’ve also learned that if you say anything negative about Samal, you had better beware because someone is going to take it very personally. I don’t wish to offend anyone with my comments here, but I feel I need to be honest, and not mislead.

I had a chance to re-visit Samal recently, and I did so with much anticipation, as well as a plan to explore more of the island than I had previously. I can’t say I was fully successful with my plan, but I certainly did get to see quite a bit. The main reason I was unable to see more than I did was the very same thing that slapped me in the face of reality for my long term plans. The roads of Samal, except for the paved section between Babak and Penaplata and the sections next to the ferry terminal, are horrendous. The rest of the roads were, for the most part, rutted rock.

Oh come on, Randy, surely you are exaggerating! Well let me give you a couple of stories for example:

mulitcab

Guess what, they were pretty much correct. Not saying you absolutely couldn’t drive something else, but it would not be easy on the vehicle. I did see a Mercedes trying to work it’s way up past Babak, but I can’t imagine what that was doing to the car. It didn’t seem to be making much progress either.

2) Another day we needed to take care of some business at City Hall, and from there were going to spend a few hours at Chema’s. City Hall is in Penaplata, and since we were staying at Camp Holiday, we took a habal-habal down to Penaplata. By far the quickest and easiest way around the island. We then asked to be taken from Penaplata to Chema’s, and I wanted to go the Circumference Road, as I knew it was the shortest route. I was told we could not do that, even on a habal-habal, as it had rained the night before, and the road would not be passable.

Yes, it did rain the night before, like it does almost every night, but nothing out of the ordinary from what I could tell. If this nightly occurrence caused the Circumference Road to be unusable, what would it be like when they have the hard monsoon type rains? We took some side roads, that were not very usable either, and that was that.

These couple of days, which included a visit to our land, really caused us to think about our long term plans. I still love Samal, and in a perfect world would still like to retire there, but I’m much less certain of that than I was before, for a variety of reasons. As things sit today I don’t know if I can recommend building in that spot. Even if I do retire there, it may be in a different section, such as along the road from Babak to Penaplata.

Much can happen between now and then, and I have to believe if this island is going to grow that the roads will be one of the first things that will be improved. I would have thought the subdivision developers would have insured that for themselves. It seems so basic to their success. If the roads do in fact get paved, then there may be may no real problem, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that at this time.

I’ve written many articles in the past about all the development happening on Samal, so I was very surprised to see the condition of the roads had actually deteriorated since I had been there a couple of years ago. I had mistakenly thought that the hype of a Samal-Davao bridge would, in the very least, insure that the roads would be in place to support that. That’s not the case so far, but maybe that was always part of the plan.

IMO before anyone on Samal talks about any kind of tourist destination, medical tourism, retirement haven, what have you – they’ve got to take care of this very basic necessity. Suffice to say that my fears, from afar, that Samal Island would be overdeveloped have been put to rest. I just don’t think I’ll see that happen while I’m still around to witness it.

PRA to Speed Up Davao Retirement MOA

Randy C — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:17:47 +0000

This references an article I saved late last year but never got around to posting about. It deals with the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to establish the Davao region as a retirement haven. Though the original article from Mindanao Times is no longer available online, the gist of it was that the PRA (Philippines Retirement Authority) wants to put the MOA on a fast track.

The two points mentioned in the article that were specific to Samal Island, and therefore most important to me, were the lack of adequate medical facilities (a theme I’ve discussed before) and the need for completion of the infamous Samal-Davao bridge, which also relates to the access to medical facilities.

But he ( Jaime B. Llames, officer in charge of the PRA Davao Satellite Office) said Samal poses several problems including the lack of proximity to a medical facility, which is one of the criteria of investors along with transportation and recreation facilities.

“Samal lacks the transportation and health care needs which are substantial for retirees living in a particular retirement village but we are asking the city government to provide us a hospital or a clinic and a bridge for easier transportation ,” he added.

Personally I don’t really understand what a MOA does to help with enticing foreign retirees. Possibly it puts more focus on the subject? Davao already has a lot to offer, but if they really want to get more foreign retirees, I think the land/home ownership laws are going to have to be revised. Even allowing a smaller lot, say up to 1000 square meters, would be a be step in the right direction IMO.

The issue of foreign ownership encompasses much more than just the Davao region, but it may be time for Davao to push for the change in the law if they are serious about being a retirement haven.

via PRA to speed up MOA for retirement haven plan | Mindanao Times

photo credit: puppetgov

New Samal Island RORO Port Announced

Randy C — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:50:50 +0000

It appears Samal Island is set to receive another RORO (Roll On Roll Off) ferry port. The new port will serve the east side of the island and connect with Pantukan on the mainland of Mindanao. This had been rumored earlier this year, but so have many other projects on Samal Island, including the infamous Samal-Davao Bridge. I have to wonder now if a bridge is even needed, with two ferry routes soon serving Samal.

Philippine Ports Authority Port District Office-Southern Mindanao here recently released the Notice of Award (NOA) for PhP 66.87 M worth of projects to the Zet Construction and the MRB Construction and Supply for the construction of the Roll-On Roll-Off (RoRo) Ports in Pantukan, Compostela Valley and Tagpopongan, Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte, respectively.

This development is in congruence with the directive of the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to expand the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) lateral links in the Davao Region-XI.

Work for the connecting ports is expected to be completed in a little over a year or so. When complete and the ferry operational, it should help substantially with development of the island, as transportation of goods and raw materials should be much improved.

I also wonder if this will spur a rash of resorts and subdivisions on the quiet side of Samal Island, much like what we are currently seeing on the gold coast.

via PPA awards contracts for Pantukan, Tagpopongan RORO ports | PIA.

Where’s that confounded bridge?

Randy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Note: this is a repeat of an article (comments included) from a year ago. As you can see, despite an occasional mention in a news article, nothing has changed.

Do you think it’s possible Robert Plant was referring to the Samal-Davao bridge, when he uttered those words at the end of The Crunge back in 1973?

Three months to review the already completed study, add in Filipino time (double it) and we’re at about six months since they announced the go ahead. A rash of announced resorts and subdivisions followed (most probably already planned). And here we sit. Well there certainly has been an economic downturn since then, maybe that’s the cause.

Most likely, and this is only speculation on my part, is that the bridge is a long way from seeing anything getting started. Some would say never, or not in our lifetime.

I check the news sites and search google occasionally but I’m not finding anything new at all. Maybe one of the locals there has some insights, but again nothing that I’ve heard about.

Photo credit: Michael Putland via patrishka.wordpress.com

Samal Highlands Garden Resort – More Info

Randy C — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:17:06 +0000

A couple of recent articles provide more detail about the upcoming Samal Highlands Garden Resort that I mentioned in a previous post. This is going to be another large high class resort along the lines of Holiday Oceanview Samal and Playa Azeala. The addition of these three alone, not even counting the smaller resorts & subdivisions, will radically change Samal Island from it’s current state, IMO.

With a project cost pegged at P800 million, the 45-hectare property will undergo a three-phase development. The first phase of the project is dubbed as Emilia Garden Residences, which is composed of 119 farm lots. The second phase is dubbed as Terazzas de San Isidro, and the third phase, a resort complex, has been dubbed as Costa de Azure.

“It is a high-end development, with about 19 hectares of residential development for the first phase, another five hectares of residential for the second phase, and the beachfront development,” Podador said.

As I stated in my reply to a comment in another article, I am now thinking that the proposed Samal-Davao Bridge is much more likely to happen than I had thought before. It may not be imminent but let’s be realistic, these subdivisions are going to be home to people with the money to afford them. The resorts will also be able to handle large numbers of people. They’re going to need to get there somehow. It may be awhile off yet, but the bridge at some point seems very likely to me. I hope I’m wrong about that.

New Samal resort project likened to Singapore’s Sentosa | Philippine Information Agency

Multi-million development project rises in Samal | Sun.Star Network Online

Samal Island International Seaport

Randy — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:00:35 +0000

International Seaport

The city government of Samal is looking to build an international seaport to compliment the proposed 500-hectare Special Economic Zone currently in second reading in Congress.

Cleto Gales, Jr., Island Garden City of Samal city administrator, said a pre-feasibility study on the seaport, proposed to be located in Barangay Tagpopongan, Babak District, showed no constraints on the sea level to accommodate the berthing area.

He said the cost of the project and other technical considerations will be included in the feasibility study.
Gales said their technical people also computed the projected ship traffic for the port that would divert a considerable number of vessels from the Sasa port.

“Sasa has no more room for expansion (that’s why we have thought about it) and if there is, it will be expensive on the part of the government to relocate the informal settlers (to give for the expansion),” he said.

Once the port is constructed, Gales said the ships passing by Pakiputan Straight in going to Sasa will instead stop by in Tagpopongan to address concerns of resort owners that huge waves generated by ships passing by caused damage to their properties.

Two years ago, Samal’s underwater cable was grazed and damaged by a passing vessel, cutting off electricity supply for weeks. He said cargoes will be transported from the port to the other destinations or the economic seaport that will be built in nearby Barangay Liboac. The port and economic zone will be connected by a trunk road.

Samal to pursue int’l seaport

Mindanao Times By Rizalene P. Acac Published : 2008-11-19

photo from flicker under CC liscense