In Port News 03/10/2016
Only one more approval is needed for the New Cebu International Container Port (NCICP) project to move forward.
The Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-Cabcom) approved last Sept. 29 the Cebu Port Authority’s (CPA) project in Tayud, Consolacion.
The approval came a day before Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado signed a joint venture agreement (JVA) with Mega Harbour Port and Development Inc. represented by its president, Victor S. Tongco, to construct a similar project in the same site.
The ICC-Cabcom chaired by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has submitted the approved CPA port project for final approval by the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) Board chaired by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Pernia described the project as a modern international container port facility needed to sustain Cebu’s development.
It will cost P9.2 billion, which will be sourced through official development assistance as recommended by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (Koica).
Koica reviewed the port feasibility study previously done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) about 16 years ago.
ICC-Cabcom records show that the NCICP is proposed to be built on a 25-hectare reclaimed site in Tayud, Consolacion, where international port operations will be transferred.
The current Cebu International Port (CIP) occupies 14 hectares, which will then be used for international cruise lines. The CIP has exceeded its optimal yard utilization rate due to the increased cargo volume arriving in the Cebu Port.
With the ICC-Cabcom’s approval, the CPA appealed to Cebuanos to avoid any misconception on the CPA’s efforts to put up the new container port in Tayud, Consolacion and the joint venture signed by Alegado and Mega Harbour.
“We did not know anything about the joint venture signing as reported by the media. We were not informed nor consulted by the parties concerned,” said CPA General Manager Edmund Tan.
Tan added that Mayor Alegado has no authority to construct a port because that mandate belongs to CPA under Republic Act 7621 or the CPA Charter.
The charter provides that only CPA can manage, operate, maintain and develop ports in the entire Province of Cebu.
However, Alegado said that the JVA with Mega Harbour was based on the Agra Law, similar to the public-private partnership (PPP) between the Municipality of Cordova and a developer for the third Cebu-Mactan bridge.
For his part, Songco said their project with Consolacion will involve 85 hectares of reclaimed land in Tayud.
This can be expanded to 150 hectares at an estimated cost of P16.459 billion.
Tan stressed, however, that the CPA will have the final say “on all port operations and projects” in Cebu Province “as mandated by law.”
“Our stand is just to let them be, if that is what they want. I will not stop them from having that joint venture agreement,” Tan said.
“I just hope that they will eventually understand and realize that they are just wasting their time and effort on that venture,” he also said.
“We are already in our final stretch in our efforts to have this new international port project come to reality and then, they come in to put up their own port on the same site? Is that fair?” Tan asked.
Source: Sun Star
