• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Lite Ferries Shipping Company will start Manapla-Ajuy-Manapla operations on June 28, according to the management of Manapla Port Stevedoring and Arrastre (MPSA).
Lite Ferries, according to MPSA, will deploy bigger and faster vessels for the convenience and safety of passengers and cargo with an On-Time-Travel-Policy.
It will navigate daily from Manapla Port to Ajuy Port at 7 a.m., 1 p.m., 7 p.m., and 1 a.m. while the Ajuy Port to Manapla Port trip schedule is 4 a.m., 10 a.m., 4 p.m., and 10 p.m.
Travel time is one hour and 30 minutes.
MPSA said its port in Barangay Punta Salong, Manapla, Negros Occidental, is the final link to complete the new nautical route from Manapla, Negros Occidental to Panay, via the Ajuy PPA Port.
The Lite Ferries Shipping Company is also opening another route soon – Manapla Port to Concepcion Port in Panay, MPSA said.
These routes are faster, better than other sea vessel routes, very advantageous to passengers, and offers more cargo space, it added.
The opening of new routes to Panay by the MPSA is expected to further boost the tourism industry and economy of the provinces of Negros Occidental and Iloilo.
MPSA is designed as an inclusive development, with facilities built for the end-user and managed by the community. It aims to provide not just livelihood, but overall human development.
“All the Manaplanahons are excited for the operation of the port because it will boost our economy; the rice trading will be faster from Panay to Negros Occidental,” disclosed Mayor Manuel Escalante.
Escalante added that it has been a dream of Manaplahanons to have a port in Manapla, and they have waited years for the project to materialize.
MPSA further said that it will be working with the municipal government of Manapla in the establishment of a cooperative composed of women, to manage and operate the passenger’s terminal canteen, toilet and bath, as well as lodging facility for drivers of the vehicles who will cross between islands.*
