PPA awards P500-M contract for Sorsogon port renovation

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has issued the contract to renovate one of the most crucial ports in the nautical highway to a construction firm based in Davao City.

Based on a notice of award released by the PPA, Khan Kon Chi Construction and Development Corp. won the Sorsogon Ro-Ro Terminal Expansion Project for pitching the lowest price among 10 bidders.

Khan Kon Chi submitted a bid of P487.8 million for the project, edging the tenders of fellow developers SB Construction Corp. (P488.65 million) and Sunwest Inc. (P488.66 million).

The PPA issued the invitation to bid for the project in November, stating that it can pay as much as P488.86 million for the rehabilitation. The project is divided into three components: removal and excavation works; port operational area; and continuous ro-ro ramp.

Simply put, the project aims to build a backup area to widen the queuing space for ro-ro ships docking at the facility. With the award, Khan Kon Chi will be given a total of 660 days to finish the infrastructure.

For context, the Port of Matnog serves as one of the most important linkages bridging Luzon to the rest of the Philippines.

The country maintains a ro-ro stretch composed of three routes, namely, the Western Nautical Highway, Central Nautical Highway and Eastern Nautical Highway.

In particular, the Port of Matnog provides the jump-off point from Luzon of the Eastern Nautical Highway, which stretches all the way to Lipata, Surigao del Norte.

Under the Marcos administration, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) aims to raise at least P1.4 billion to upgrade the 14 ro-ro ports across the archipelago. The DOTr is negotiating with consultancy firms and financing partners interested in designing and funding the projects.

In doing this, the government intends to promote the use of the nautical highways for interisland connectivity. The DOTr also wants the agriculture and manufacturing sectors to maximize these nautical highways for cargo trade.

The PPA, for its part, has lined up a total of 79 projects for the year and targets to complete 29 of them within 2024.

The agency wants to build up the network of ports in the Philippines to serve the rising demand for trade and travel by sea in the pandemic aftermath.