CEBU CITY – The construction of the new Cebu International Container Port (NCICP) located in Tayud, Consolacion town, which is eight kilometers from Cebu City base port, could start before the year ends as consultancy works are already ongoing.

“If all consultancy work deadlines are met as planned, we are hopeful that the more than P10.1-billion international container port project starts this year and completed in five years’ time,” according to Cebu Port Authority (CPA) General Manager Leonilo Miole in a virtual media briefing Monday at the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) hosted by Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales.

Miole bared that sometime in June 2018 the Philippines and South Korea’s Export Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) signed a $172.64-million or P8.48-billion loan agreement for the construction of a new international port in Cebu.

The Philippines provided a counterpart fund of $26.09 million or about P1.28 billion for the project, Miole said the NCICP will be built on a 25-hectare reclaimed land in Tayud, Consolacion in northern Cebu.

The project includes a berthing facility with a 500-meter-long quay wall that can simultaneously accommodate two 2,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels; operating facilities and structures for containers such as a freight station and an inspection shed; an access road and bridge; and a dredged waterway and turning basin.  The loan also included procurement of cargo-handling equipment, Miole added.

Miole said that a new international terminal is seen as the long-term solution to the growing volumes of cargo being handled at the Cebu International Port (CIP), the current base port in Cebu City.  The project is seen not only to free up the base port but also to enhance the transport infrastructure system for the unimpeded flow of goods and services in the Visayas.

Miole revealed that the NCICP has two components in the procurement for the project; consultancy and construction.   The consultancy procurement is now ongoing and the procurement for civil works is expected to start by October this year.

While the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis might possibly delay some works, Miole is still hopeful that the project can be operational this year.  The NCICP is one of the flagship projects under the Duterte administration’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program.

Miole went on that once the project is realized, the Cebu International Port (CIP) located at the North Reclamation Area (NRA) in Cebu City would be transformed into a domestic port while the NCICP will serve international cargoes.  This can address the decongestion problem in the domestic operations.