The five pre-qualified bidders to the P19.7-billion Davao-Sasa modernization project will be going on a five-day visit to the port this month prior to the pre-bid conference on October 26.
In General Bid Bulletin No. 9-2015, Raul Santos, vice chairman for Pre-qualification, Bids and Awards Committee and assistant general manager of Philippine Ports Authority, told bidders the initial site visit will be from October 19 to 23.
Comments on the first draft of the concession agreement, meanwhile, are due on October 21.
Last August, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) identified the pre-qualified groups as San Miguel Holdings, Corp.-APM Terminals Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Consortium; Asian Terminals Inc. and DP World FZE Consortium; Bollore Africa Logistics; International Container Terminal Services, Inc.; and Portek International Pte. Ltd. and AP National Marine Corporation Consortium.
The first round of one-on-one consultations has been set for October 27 to 29.
The transport department targets the fourth quarter of the year for submission and opening of bids; awarding of the contract is slated for April 2016.
The project involves operating and maintaining the port facility over a 30-year period. It requires construction of a new apron and linear quay; expansion of back-up area, container yards and warehouses; and installation of ship-to-shore cranes and rubber-tired gantries.
Once the first phases of the project are completed in 2018, DOTC said the Davao-Sasa Port “will be comparable to the country’s top ports in terms of speed and quality of service, cutting down cargo unloading from three days to three hours by using modern ship-to-shore cranes and port operating systems.”
An upgraded Davao-Sasa Port will help banana growers save at least P8,000 in trucking costs per delivery, DOTC noted.
The economy of Davao thrives on banana exports, the region being the second largest banana exporter in the world.
A study conducted by the International Finance Corporation and the Development Bank of the Philippines projects container traffic in the Davao Region will increase by at least 6% annually over the next 25 years.
Latest PPA data show that Davao-Sasa handled 142,182 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first semester of 2015, a 33% improvement from the 106,818 TEUs processed in the same period last year.
Without the added capacity that a modernized Davao-Sasa Port will bring, DOTC said “there will be a strong chance of shortage in port capacity in Davao bay which may affect small-medium banana growers who may not be able to export their bananas.”
