The Transportation Department said it will pursue the bidding of the P19-billion Davao Sasa Port Modernization Project in 2016, despite the objection by the Davao city council.
Transportation undersecretary for planning Rene Limcaoco said the agency would conduct a series of consultations with the bidders this month to resolve issues surrounding the government’s first port project under the public-private partnership program.
Limcaoco said the department would hold one-on-one consultations with San Miguel Holdings Corp.-APM Terminals Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and Portek International Pte Ltd.-National Marine Corp. Consortium on Jan. 18.
It would also hold talks with International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Asian Terminals Inc.-DP World FZE Consortium on Jan. 19 and with Ballore Africa Logistics on Jan. 20.
The consultations with the prequalified bidders will be held at the Philippine Ports Authority’s head office in South Harbor, Manila.
The department earlier moved the bid submission for the project to Feb. 26 from Jan. 11, 2016.
The agency pushed back the schedule because of numerous requests from pre-qualified bidders and to give them more time to conduct technical, financial and legal due diligence.
The Sangguniang Panglungsod ng Davao had issued a resolution stopping the Sasa port bidding because of “the irregular procedure as well as the various questions raised against the Sasa Port Modernization project now being bid out without prior consultation and expressed approval of the local government as provided for by the Local Government Code.”
The winning bidder will build a new apron and linear quay, expand the back-up area, container yards and warehouses and install ship-to-shore cranes and rubber-tyred gantry.
The government said once the first phases of the project were completed by 2018, the Sasa Port would be comparable to the country’s top ports in terms of speed and quality of service, cutting down cargo unloading from three days to three hours by using modern ship-to-shore cranes and port operating systems.
Davao thrives in banana exports, being the second largest exporter of the fruit in the world. A study conducted by International Finance Corp. and the Development Bank of the Philippines showed that container traffic in the Davao area would increase by at least 6 percent annually over the next 25 years.
The government said without the added capacity of a modernized Sasa Port, there would be a strong chance of shortage in port capacity in Davao Bay, which might affect small banana growers.
Apart from added capacity, the proximity of the Sasa Port to banana plantations will help growers save at least P8,000 in trucking costs per delivery.
Sasa wharf currently has a capacity of 700,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, but the PPA expects the volume to rise to 1.2 million TEUs in the next five years.
31 December 2015
By Darwin G. Amojelar
