MANILA — Shipping firm Chelsea Logistics Holding Corporation (CLC) is eyeing to bid for the modernization of the Sasa port in Davao City as it submitted a unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate and expand port facilities to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
“If we look at the state of the port in Davao today, it really needs a massive rehabilitation. There’s a lot of damaged areas that we need to rehabilitate,” CLC president and chief executive officer Chryss Alfonsus Damuy said in a media interview over the weekend.
“There are limited equipment in terms of cargo handling. The cranes are limited. Those are the things that we want to do,” he added.
CLC is eyeing to invest around PHP16 billion for a concession period of at least 25 years.
The proposed modernization of the Sasa port will be done in phases, Damuy said.
The first phase, which will cost around PHP5 billion, will involve the rehabilitation of existing facilities in the port.
The second phase will expand the capacity of the port, which will be initiated based on the improvement of cargo volume and passenger traffic.
The port is envisioned to handle general cargo and container as well as serve domestic and international passengers.
The proposal was submitted to the DOTr around the middle of this year.
Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte said earlier this month the modernization of the 80,000 square meter Sasa Port will start next year.
The port modernization project, via a public-private partnership (PPP) mode, will push through after being recommended by the Regional Development Council (RDC) and the City Development Council under the mayor.
In 2016, the Philippine Ports Authority has removed the Sasa Port from the PPP list due to issues of higher costs.
The PHP19 billion rehabilitation plan drafted under the previous administration was met with strong opposition from the city government and the business sector as this was much higher that the original cost of PHP4 billion set by the PPA. (Aerol John Pateña/PNA)
