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The Department of Transportation is eyeing a February approval of the New Cebu International Container Port by the National Economic and Development Authority Board
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Once approved, construction can start within the first quarter of the year
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DOTr is seeking the NEDA Board green light to increase project cost
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is eyeing a February approval of the New Cebu International Container Port (NCICP) by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board.
DOTr is seeking the NEDA Board green light to hike project cost which has grown since the first Board approval in 2016, DOTr undersecretary for planning and project development Timothy John Batan told media in an interview on January 5.
Once approved and after contract awarding, construction can start within the first quarter of the year, he said.
Transportation undersecretary for maritime Elmer Sarmiento earlier said the project encountered delays in procurement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lowest 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.
NEDA Regional Development Council Region 7 officer-in-charge regional director Dolores Molintas in the PortCalls Visayas Shipping Conference in March 2023 said DOTr submitted a request to the NEDA-Investment Coordination Committee to increase project cost and extend loan validity and implementation period.
READ: Higher cost for new Cebu container port project
Groundworks for the NCICP was to have originally started in August 2022. The civil works component was bidded out in 2022, and won by a Korean firm.
The Philippine government and South Korea’s KEXIM in 2018 signed a US$172.64-million loan agreement for the project; a counterpart funding of P1.28 billion will 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, Cebu’s base port.
Several feasibility studies, the most recent one by KEXIM, suggest locating the new sea hub in Tayug, Consolacion, some 8 kilometers from the Cebu base port. — Roumina Pablo
