Cracks force CPA to abandon Terminal 3
Cracks force CPA to abandon Terminal 3
The Cebu Port Authority (CPA) has ordered a stop to the operations of the Port of Cebu Passenger Terminal 3 at Pier 4 after cracks were found on the first floor of the port facility.
The port management ordered an inspection of the terminal after a security guard reported the presence of cracks. The guard on Tuesday night initially felt minor shaking and heard creaking sounds on the ground floor of the two-story building.
Yusop Uckung, deputy general manager of CPA, convened an emergency meeting where the decision to declare the passsenger terminal unsafe for occupancy was made.
“We need to abandon the building for safety reasons,” he said.
Uckung said that the building was declared safe after it was inspected following last year’s earthquake.
Terminal operations of Supercat, 2GO, Roble and Lite Shipping were temporarily transferred to Passenger Terminal 1 at Pier 1 while those of the Medallion, TransAsia, and VG Shipping were moved to sheds across the abandoned terminal building.
Passengers in the temporary sheds will not be made to pay terminal fees, Uckung said.
Passengers have complained about the inconvenience caused by the transfer.
Eduardo Bonga, 52 who has been waiting for his voyage to Cagayan de Oro City since Wednesday, said the heat in the temporary sheds was unbearable.
“Init jud siya, nalipay gani unta ko kay aircon unta didto pero dili man pwede,” Bonga told Cebu Daily News. (It’s extremely hot. It would have been better at the air-conditioned terminal building.)
He said he would have opted to stay at the pier but the inconvenience forced him to rent a room.
Informed of the passengers’ complaints, CPA’s Uckung apologized, but said safety must come first.
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