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The Department of Transportation will likely to award the New Cebu International Container Port Project to HJ Shipbuilding and Construction Corp by early October
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The civil works contract is worth P16.93 billion
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The project is expected to be completed by 2028, according to DOTr undersecretary for maritime Elmer Francisco Sarmiento
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will likely award the New Cebu International Container Port Project (NCICP) to South Korean firm HJ Shipbuilding and Construction Corp. possibly by early October, according to undersecretary for maritime Elmer Francisco Sarmiento.
This is after DOTr recently secured the special allotment release order from the Department of Budget and Management, Sarmiento told media in a chance interview on September 27. He noted HJ Shipbuilding is the only bidder with the best offer for the P16.93-billion civil works contract.
HJ Shipbuilding and Construction Corp. is formerly Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd.
Construction can start this year and may be completed by 2028, Sarmiento added. Earlier he had said DOTr was hoping to start construction by September after the National Economic and Development Authority Board greenlit changes to parameters in the NCICP in June.
The final cost for civil works is P16.929 billion, up from the initial P9.962 billion, while the new implementation period is up to June 21, 2028.
The project encountered delays in procurement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Groundworks for the NCICP was to have originally started in August 2022.
The Philippine government and Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) in 2018 signed a $172.64-million loan agreement for the project; a counterpart funding of P1.28 billion would be financed by the Philippine government.
Sarmiento earlier said the project has two approaches: civil works which will be funded by official development assistance from KEXIM, and the purchase of quay cranes that will be under a public-private partnership.
NCICP will have a berthing facility with a 500-meter-long quay wall that can simultaneously accommodate two 2,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit vessels; operating facilities and structures for containers such as a freight station and an inspection shed; an access road and bridge; and a dredged waterway and turning basin. It will be equipped with four quay cranes.
The port will be built on a 25-hectare reclaimed area in Tayug, Consolacion, Cebu and connected to the mainland by a 300-meter offshore bridge.
A new international terminal is seen as the long-term solution to growing volumes handled at Cebu International Port.
Several feasibility studies, the most recent one by KEXIM, suggest locating the new sea hub in Tayug, Consolacion, some eight kilometers from the Cebu base port.
The project is one of the government’s big-ticket infrastructure flagship projects. – Roumina Pablo
