Construction to finally start for much-delayed Consolacion port

FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines – After spending decades in the pipeline, the new container port in Consolacion town, northern Cebu will finally take off.

This was, after the national government has given the go-signal for the contractor to start civil works of the P16-billion New Cebu International Container Port (NCICP).

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, Dec. 18, signed the Civil Works Contract for the multi-billion peso project, which was won by a Korean shipbuilding company called HJ Shipbuilding and Construction Co. Ltd. (HJSC).

The signing ceremony took place at Kalayaan Hall in Malacañang.

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Present in the event were Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista and Mr. Kook Il Jeon, representative of HJSC.

Both Bautista and Jeon signed the contract on behalf of the Philippine government and the contractor respectively.

Also in attendance were Cebu Port Authority (CPA) General Manager Kit Comendador and CPA commissioners, lawyers Jose Mario Elino Tan, Joselito Pedaria, and Leo Cañares.

It was only last September when the Department of Transportation (DOTr) awarded the contract to build the port on a 25-hectare reclaimed land to HJSC.

NCICP

The proposal of putting up another container port outside Cebu City to decongest the existing Cebu International Port was first introduced in 2002 by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

It was only in 2018 that the government signed a $172.64-million loan deal with Export-Import Bank of Korea to bankroll the project’s construction.

The Philippines, for its part, will provide a counterpart fund of $26.09 million for the project.

Construction for the NCICP, which will have a 500-meter berth length and water depth of (-12) meters, is expected to finish between 2027 and 2028.

Upon completion, it has the capacity to accommodate two 2,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) vessels.

The port will also have operating facilities and structures for containers such as a freight station and inspection shed, as well as an access road and bridge.

According to CPA, in a statement, the new port will significantly increase Cebu’s capacity to handle international cargo and contribute to the region’s long-term economic development. / with reports from INQUIRER.net