16F877 universal PCB with I/O module

[Art]

I have downloaded the schematic, and it looks good.
Helped me make a board using F877 for the first time.

Just a Q for anyone who can answer, is there a reason why the two pins
used for comm with the EEPROM would be sourced
from an 8 bit port rather than portA 5 bit port? Using two pins from an 8
bit port seem a waste of a port that has byte-wide I/O potential.

I would like to use A0 as a sink for indicator LED,
A1 SDA, A2 SCL, A3 SDA, A4 SDL for IIC EEPROMS.
Is one of the portA pins only an input?
Cheers, Art.