Chelsea Logistics Holdings, Corp. (CLHC) has submitted an P11.2-billion unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate and develop Davao-Sasa port.
In a regulatory disclosure, CLHC said the proposal was submitted to the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) in August 2018 and is currently being evaluated.
The company also clarified that the proposed cost is not P16 billion as president and chief executive officer, Chryss Alfonsus Damuy, told media in an interview on October 5.
“If you look at the state of the Port of Davao, it really needs massive rehabilitation. (The) deck, there’s a lot of damaged areas we have to rehabilitate. There are very limited equipment as to cargo handling, limited yung mga (the) quay cranes. So those are things we wanted to do on phase one, to [rehabilitate] the existing and install modern equipment,” Damuy said at the sidelines of the company’s inauguration of two new vessels.
The project will be done in four phases, with phase one involving the rehabilitation of the existing port at a cost of P5 billion, Damuy said. The next phases, he noted, will start once “certain milestones” in cargo traffic are achieved.
Damuy said CLHC is proposing a 25-year concession period to operate the port, handling both international and domestic containers, general cargoes, and passengers.
PPA general manager Atty. Jay Daniel Santiago, in an interview with PortCalls at the sidelines of the same inauguration, said the ports authority is “still considering if we will entertain the proposal.”
“If we will entertain the proposal, then it will go through Swiss challenge (but) if we will not entertain the proposal, then it will be bidded out in accordance with the terminal management framework,” Santiago explained. A Swiss challenge is when other parties can challenge the submitted unsolicited proposal.
Santiago noted that Davao-Sasa port falls under tier one of its port terminal management regulatory framework (PTMRF), which allows the ports authority to entertain unsolicited proposals for the development of ports.
PTMRF, embodied in PPA Administrative Order (AO) 03-2016 issued in 2016, outlines the guidelines for awarding terminal management contracts. PPA hopes to implement the PTMRF by the end of the year.
But while waiting for a decision, PPA has allotted P2 billion this year for the rehabilitation of Davao-Sasa port’s container yard. Santiago said the rehabilitation could take about two to three years; PPA hopes to start before the year ends. – Roumina Pablo
