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The contract for the proposed P14.82-billion San Ramon Newport Project is aimed to be signed in May 2026 while start of construction of the seaport is also eyed next year
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SRNP is envisioned to be the main trade, commerce, and industrial center of the Zamboanga Peninsula and the first freeport in Mindanao
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Start of operations is seen by the fifth year or in 2030
The contract for the proposed P14.82-billion San Ramon Newport Project (SRNP) is expected to be signed in May 2026 with construction to start also next year.
The Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority and Freeport (ZCSEZA) last July announced it was seeking parties to pre-qualify and bid for the design, financing, construction, operation, and maintenance of the SRNP, envisioned to be the main trade, commerce, and industrial center of the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX) and the first freeport in Mindanao.
READ: Zamboanga ecozone authority seeks bidders for P14.8B San Ramon Newport Project
Submission, opening, and evaluation of pre-qualification documents is scheduled in October, with announcement of qualified bidders to be in the first week of November, according to the presentation of Brando Cabalsi, transaction advisor legal specialist of Pacific Rim Innovation and Management Exponents (PRIMEX), Inc., the consultant for the project, during a recent investors’ conference.
Submission, opening and evaluation of the technical proposals of qualified bidders will be in March 2026, followed by the opening and evaluation of financial proposals of those whose technical proposals were deemed qualified. Announcement of the winning bidder is eyed by April 2026, with signing of contract scheduled in May 2026.
The project will be under the Build-Operate-Transfer scheme, a public-private partnership model, with a 35-year concession period, inclusive of the estimated construction period, which is targeted to start next year.
Start of operations is seen in the fifth year or in 2030.
“We believe that the San Ramon Newport Project will open its doors for more jobs, more investment opportunities, and strategic development that can reshape the economic landscape of Zamboanga City and its entire community,” ZCSEZA Pre-qualification, Bids and Awards Committee chairman Reynold Pareja said in a speech during the project’s recent investors’ conference.
With a land area of around 23 hectares in Brgy. Talisayan, Zamboanga City, the project includes the construction of an inland berth facility and harbor basin, a container berth and south breakwater cum south berth, continuous roll-on/roll-off ramp and north berth, port back-up areas including a road network, parking, and open areas; buildings and other support facilities, and utilities.
Access to the proposed port will not be an issue, unlike the existing Zamboanga base port (ZBP), PRIMEX transaction advisor team lead Joselito Supangco said also during the investors’ conference.
The SRNP site location has direct connection to a national road (Zamboanga West Coastal Road), to be complemented by the Bypass Road Project that will link the east and west coasts of Zamboanga City.
Supangco said there is still area for further expansion of the SRNP, unlike its main competitor, ZBP, which has issues on expansion constraints and accessibility.
Current trade in ZBP is mostly domestic, but there is international trade in terms of trips to Sandakan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China.
“So that opens the potential for international trade which is actually at present very limited…because of the capacity of the Zamboanga City port,” Supangco said, noting that due to operational constraints in ZBP, foreign shipments have to go through other ports in Cagayan De Oro and Davao.
“So by providing for an international port with the state-of-the-art cargo-handling capacity and equipment, then there is actually a potential for cargo having to skip calling in other ports and go directly to San Ramon Newport,” Supangco said.
SRNP will not be under the regulatory control of the Philippine Ports Authority. ZCSEZA has created a port authority exclusively for SRNP’s regulation, including tariff setting.
Based on estimates considering the region’s gross domestic product and other factors, such as cargoes from Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone and diverted shipments from other ports, the medium traffic forecast for SRNP is that for the year 2030, it will be handling 226,098 metric tons (mt) of domestic breakbulk cargo, 239,769 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of domestic containers, 365,073 mt of foreign cargoes, and 30,820 TEUs of foreign containers.
By 2060, or the 35th year of the concession, the port is forecasted to handle an estimated 1.849 million mt of domestic breakbulk cargoes, 1.159 million TEUs of domestic containers, 2.379 million mt of foreign cargoes, and 140,601 TEUs of foreign containers. – Roumina Pablo
