More infrastructure projects lie ahead for Cebu Port Authority

As they celebrate their 25th founding anniversary, the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) assured that more infrastructure projects will be implemented in the coming years.

Among the first and biggest will be the new international port in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion town.

The national government will be making a $204-million loan with the Korean government for the construction of the new port, which is targeted to start by the latter half of 2018.

“It has been approved for funding by the Korean government through the Export-Import Bank of Korea. It is a $204-million loan granted through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund of the Government of Korea,” said CPA’s senior corporate lawyer Karen Gonzales.

She said the Department of Finance (DOF) is already preparing the necessary loan documents for the release and downloading of the funds for the project.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will be on top of the project, but once construction is finished, it will be turned over to the CPA.

The contract for the construction, which will be roughly around P10.2 billion, will be bid out to interested contractors. But according to Gonzales, among the conditions set by the Korean government for the loan is that only contractors that are accredited by the Korean government will be allowed to participate in the bidding.

“This is good since we are assured that the quality of our new port will be of Korean quality. Our benchmark is the Busan New Port (in Korea) which is the fifth largest port all over the world,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales explained that the expansion of the current Cebu International Port (CIP) has long been clamored for by both the tourism and business sectors.

The CPA has already experienced problems on congestion at the CIP before which led them to come up with remedies to free up the capacity in the CIP.

As of now, Gonzales said that only around 60 to 70 percent of the CIP is being utilized. But even so, the construction of the new port in Consolacion will add more berth space for international vessels.