Deliberation on new port project slated this month

The new container port project is set for deliberation by the National Economic and Development Authority's Investment Coordination Committee before it will be up for the President's approval.

Cebu Port Authority General Manager Edmund Tan said the deliberation was supposed to be done last July 18 but was postponed.

Tan said NEDA-7 Regional Director Efren Carreon will defend the port project before the ICC.

"I'm waiting for the go signal sa NEDA-7 (as to the deliberation schedule)," Tan told The FREEMAN in a phone interview yesterday.

In a mobile phone message yesterday, Carreon confirmed the matter and said they will present the project in a deliberation with the ICC within this month.

The CPA official said the NEDA-ICC is going to deliberate on the financial aspect of the project, among other issues.

Once the NEDA-ICC approves the project, it will be endorsed to the NEDA Board for President Rodrigo Duterte's approval.

can

Only then the project

start its detailed engineering study which, Tan said, could take about six months to be completed.

Afterwards, the project can already start construction, which is expected to take three years.

The Cebu container port project was actually targeted to start this month, granting that it would get the NEDA Board's approval.

Tan admitted the project's timeline was no longer followed pending the approval. "Merong timeline pero di na nasunod kasi nga wa pa na-deliberate sa NEDA," Tan said.

According to the project's implementation timeline, the target schedule for the construction is August this year and completion is second quarter of 2019.

The feasibility study on the new Cebu port, which was done by Korean experts, pointed a location in Tayud, Consolacion as the project site.

Among the study's recommendations include funding from Korea's Economic Development Cooperation Fund, given that the project, which has an estimated cost of P10 billion, has a poor financial viability.

The Tayud port will also need an access road to connect the port to and from the Cebu North Coastal Road.

The new container port is geared towards meeting the demands of the dynamic and growing economy of Cebu and of the region.

It is expected to provide a long-term solution to the congestion at the existing Cebu International Port due to increasing volume and the shallow water depth of its container berths.

The traffic congestion at the CIP area is reportedly caused by big trucks hauling cargoes inside the area.