Kabayan opens $1.6-B shipyard in Subic

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Vice President Noli de Castro on Wednesday opened the Phase 1-1 of the $1.6 billion shipyard at Subic’s Re­dondo Peninsula here.

The Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Corp. whose technology and expertise for constructing some of the biggest seagoing vessels in the world has built the said shipyard.

De Castro lauded Hanjin officials and praised the progress the company has made in a record time of 19 months, He also invoked the mutually-beneficial relations between the company and the Philippine government.

“Hanjin  has been involved in the construction of, among others, highways, airports and bridges in the Philippines for the last 30 years. That is why Hanjin has a good relationship with our government,” said De Castro.

“By 2010, Hanjin plans to employ 20,000 people,” De Castro said.

According to Hanjin officials, Phase 1-1 of the Subic shipyard project involved the completion of key structures within the shipyard that are needed in ship production.

These structures include a dry-dock facility, hull shop buildings, a four-story administration building, a three-story production and design building, field offices, catering center building, and a guest house.

After a brief tour of the hull shops where the Vice President took time to talk to Filipino workers, a formal opening ceremony was held  at Hanjin’s hillside “guest house” – a modest name for an avant-garde manor inside the shipyard complex, where Hanjin’s visiting European clientele, and, incidentally, government officials, were treated to a banquet and a panoramic view of the Hanjin shipyard complex.

Among those invited at the occasion were South Korean Ambassador Jong Ki Hong, Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan of the Subic-Clark Area Development Council, Trade Undersecretary Elmer Hernan­dez, Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia, Olongapo City Mayor James Gordon Jr., Subic, Zam­bales Mayor Jeffrey Khong­hun, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman Feliciano Salonga, SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza, and Police Regional Office-3 director, Chief Superintendent Errol Pan.

Administrator Arreza said the SBMA, which has approved the shipyard project barely two years ago, “is very excited that the Hanjin facility has been realized in such a short time.”

“With Hanjin’s additional $2  billion to build another shipyard in Mindanao, I can assure you that the Philippine government will continue its support to Hanjin’s noble undertaking,” said Arreza.