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THE
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) have begun the bidding
process for the privatization of the
Batangas
Port, indicating that it may not need an exemption for
the election ban on government projects.
According to documents, the state-led agency is asking
interested investors to bid for the rights to manage,
operate, maintain, develop and promote phase II
(container terminal A-I) of the said facility for 25
years.
Although
the schedule indicated that interested parties should
submit their letters of intent by March 14, the last day
of submission of eligibility documents would be on March
15.
After
the deadline, PPA officials would then create a short
list of seven bidders based on their respective track
records in handling cargo, qualification of key
officers, and the company’s capitalization.
“Only
those who are short listed will be entitled to submit
bids... the contract will only be awarded to the highest
rated and responsive bidder,” the documents said.
The
bidding announcement ended months of speculation
surrounding the start of the operation of the port,
which have been virtually idle since it was commissioned
into service in September 2005.
Moreover, conflict of interest issues with Asian
Terminals Inc. (ATI), which currently runs the port’s
first phase, were also raised, leading observers to say
that the terminal’s privatization may be delayed
further.
However,
foreign and local ships have continued to avoid docking
at the terminal owing to the lack of the necessary
infrastructure going to and from the facility and the
PPA’s inability to install cargo handling equipment.
According to the PPA’s plan, it needs to privatize the
cargo handling operations during the first half of the
year, but the necessary cargo handling equipment would
be installed later in the year.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is
expected to implement the ban on the awarding of
government projects by March 31. This indicates that PPA
needs to award the contract just one day before or
secure an exemption which will allow them to endorse the
contract.
The
Batangas Port’s second phase, funded by a loan from the
Japan Bank for International Cooperated, consists of
dredging and reclamation, construction of two foreign
container cargo berths, reconstruction of the general
cargo berth at the Phase 1 area with provision for
stacking yard, container freight station, terminal
building, utilities, access road, and other support
facilities.
The
first phase, mainly geared for domestic operations,
started last 1992 and completed in 1997, which cost
P1.21billion It includes ferry, Roll-on Roll-off, and
general cargo services. |
