Manila North Harbor to triple its capacity by next year

The capacity of Manila North Harbor, the Philippines' busiest domestic seaport, will be tripled when a new modern passenger terminal will rise next year, port officials revealed yesterday, Xinhua reports.
The passenger terminal, which will cost P200 million ($4.66 million) to build, is part of a large two-year expansion program for the Manila North Harbor.
"The concessionaire will expand the capacity to 3,000 passengers a day... today, the capacity is only at 1,000," Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Juan Sta. Ana told reporters today.
The first phase of North Harbor's expansion, as approved by the PPA, would involve the expansion of existing wharves and acquisition of new cranes to increase its cargo throughput capacity.
The new passenger terminal will be completed by early next year. Construction started last month. The rest of the works in the first phase would be done by the end of 2013.
The Manila North Harbor is run by the Manila North Harbor Port Inc. (MNHPI), a joint venture between the Romero family's Harbor Center Port Terminal Inc. (65 percent) and San Miguel Corp.-led Petron Corp. (35 percent).