CPA gets OK to start P9B port project

President Rodrigo Duterte has given the go signal for the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) to proceed with its proposed P9.2-billion international port project in the northern town of Consolacion in Cebu province.

This means that the CPA port project will be the project to be implemented in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion town in favor of the the proposed P16.5-billion international port project by Mega Harbour and Port Development, Inc., which was supposed to be built on the same site.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by the president, approved the proposed port project and six other infrastructure projects worth close to a total of P270 billion in a meeting on Monday, Nov. 14.

“(Socioeconomic Planning) Secretary (Ernesto) Pernia was supportive and really pushed for the approval of our new international container port project,” CPA General Manager Edmund Tan, who defended his agency’s proposal during the meeting, told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Tan said he will still have to consult with the NEDA Board and the NEDA in Central Visayas on how to move forward.

Nonetheless, he said the next eight months will be spent finalizing detailed engineering designs, modifying plans, preparing paper works, and conducting biddings.

Construction will begin within the third quarter of 2017, he said, with the port expected to be completed and operational by 2020.

The CPA is eyeing a 12-hectare site in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion for the new international container port, seen to decongest the existing port at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City.

Tan said that funding will come from the Korean Official Development Assistance with a counterpart from the Philippine national government.

“The new port with its complete facilities will be exclusive for containers. The existing port will be maintained to handle bulk cargo,” he said.

He said that the new port will have state-of-the-art facilities and will mostly be automated so manual labor may be limited, making it more effective and efficient.

Displaced people

Tan said he presented before an audience which included Vice President Leni Robredo and other Cabinet secretaries.

Robredo raised her concern on the resettlement of the close to 100 residents in Barangay Tayud, who will be displaced once the work on the project starts.

The municipality of Consolacion was tasked to find a suitable relocation site while coordinating with the NEDA-7.

When sought for her reaction, Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado said she would not comment on it yet.

Tan also said that the NEDA Board also discussed Mega Harbour’s proposed port project on the same site.

Win-win solution

On Tuesday, Tan said he met with other members of the NEDA-7 Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) to come up with a “win-win” solution for this conflict.

“Since our project has already been approved by the NEDA Board, we will build the port. If they insist on a reclamation project, then they probably can do a different one, like for a terminal, but not for a port,” he said.

In September, a day after the CPA project was approved by the NEDA Investment Coordination Council-Cabinet Committee (ICC-CabComm), the municipal government entered into a joint venture agreement with the private company.

Later on, Mega Harbour even secured an investment deal with state-owned Chinese firm CCCC Dredging Co., considered to be the world’s largest dredging company.

Since then, Tan has been firm that no private person or entity or local government unit can construct a port or pier without permit from the CPA.

Republic Act No. 7621 or the CPA Charter states that only the CPA can manage, operate, maintain, and develop ports and port facilities in the whole Cebu province.

Approved projects

Other projects approved by the NEDA Board during its last meeting include the scaling up of the second Cordillera highlands agricultural resources management project, expansion of the Philippine rural development project, improvement/widening of General Luis-Kaybiga-Polo-Novaliches Road to Valenzuela City, North-South Railway Project-South Line, Malitubog-Maridagao irrigation Project-Stage 2, and New Nayong Pilipino at Entertainment City.