Bidding Prequalification for USD 208 million International Container Port in Cebu Begins

The Philippine Department of Transportation (DOTr) has begun inviting potential bidders to join the prequalification process for the civil works contract of the PHP 10 billion (USD 208 million) New Cebu International Container Port (NCICP) project.
The project is mostly funded by a loan from South Korea’s Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM). In June 2018, the Philippine government and KEXIM had signed a PHP 8.8 billion (USD 172.64 million) loan agreement for the construction of NCICP. To complete the fund, the Philippine government also provided a counterpart fund of PHP 1.4 billion (USD 26.09 million) for the project.
The project’s implementing agency is the DOTr, of which the Cebu Port Authority (CPA), is an attached office. After the project is completed, it will be handed over to the CPA.
According to DOTr, the works to be performed by the contractor under this contract comprise, but (are) not limited to, detailed engineering design and construction of berthing facilities, revetment for reclamation, dredging and reclamation, road, bridge, water supply and drainage, electric installation, architectural facilities, and electronic communication facilities.
Eligibility criteria include at least three seaports including quay wall construction contracts successfully or substantially completed within the last 15 years, either in the Republic of Korea or in other countries, where the value of the applicant’s participation exceeds USD 60 million per contract. Of these three contracts, at least one contract should have been executed on an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) basis. The agency also added that the applicant should also have experience operating in tropical climates similar to that of Cebu.
Eligible firms may submit their expressions of intent to DOTr on or before January 20th, 2021, while the deadline for submitting prequalification documents to the department is on or before February 24th, 2021, at 8 am. After that, the invitation for bids will be issued in March 2021, and the detailed design and construction phase of the project is scheduled to start by Q3 of this year.
The new port will have a berthing facility with a 500-meter quay wall length that can simultaneously accommodate two 2,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) vessels, operating facilities and structures for containers such as a freight station and inspection shed, an access road and bridge and a dredged waterway and turning basin.
Once this project is realized, the existing Cebu International Port (CIP) located in Cebu City will be transformed into a domestic port, while NCICP will serve international cargoes coming in and out of Cebu.
A new international terminal is seen as the long-term solution to the growing volumes handled at the CIP, the current base port.
The project is seen not only to free up the base port but also to enhance the transport infrastructure system for the unimpeded flow of goods and services in the Visayas.
Several feasibility studies, the most recent one by KEXIM, suggest locating the new seaport hub in Tayud, Consolacion in northern Cebu, hence, NCICP will be built on a 25-hectare reclaimed land in this town.
(Sources: BusinessWorld; Philippine News Agency; SunStar)