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The cost of the New Cebu International Container Port Project has surged by 70% to P16.929 billion from the initial P9.962 billion
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This is just one of the changes approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board for the project
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NCICP is one of nine infrastructure projects whose changes pertaining to project scope, cost and extension of implementation period and loan validity were approved by the NEDA Board
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The new implementation period is up to June 21, 2028
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Transport Undersecretary for Maritime Elmer Francisco Sarmiento said construction may start in September
The cost of the New Cebu International Container Port Project (NCICP) has surged by 70% to P16.929 billion from the initial P9.962 billion.
This is just one of the changes approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board for the project in a meeting on June 25.
The project is one of nine infrastructure projects whose changes pertaining to project scope, cost and extension of implementation period and loan validity were greenlit by the NEDA Board.
NCICP’s revised implementation period is up to June 21, 2028, Transportation undersecretary for maritime Elmer Francisco Sarmiento told PortCalls in a text message.
Groundworks was to have originally started in August 2022. The civil works component was bidded out in 2022, and won by a Korean firm.
Following the NEDA Board approval, Sarmiento said the next step is to request for a special allotment release order, then award the contract to the civil contractor to complete the design and start construction.
“Hopefully, we can start construction in September 2024,” Sarmiento said.
DOTr undersecretary for planning and project development Timothy John Batan earlier said DOTr sought the NEDA Board approval to hike project cost, which has surged since the first Board approval in 2016.
Sarmiento also earlier said the project encountered delays in procurement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lowest submitted bid was more than the cost estimate so that paperwork had to be redone and another approval from project funder Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) and the NEDA Board sought.
The Philippine government and South Korea’s KEXIM in 2018 signed a $172.64-million loan agreement for the project; a counterpart funding of P1.28 billion will be financed by the Philippine government.
Sarmiento had said the project has two approaches: civil works which will be funded by official development assistance from KEXIM, and the purchase of quay cranes 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, Cebu’s base 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. – Roumina Pablo
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