MANILA, Philippines — International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. and Davao-based Kudos Trucking Corp. have bagged the original proponent status (OPS) for their respective unsolicited offers to develop major ports.
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) general manager Jay Santiago told The STAR that the OPS had been issued to the two proponents in August last year.
“All are currently pending consideration by the National Economic and Development Authority,” he said.
ICTSI has submitted to the PPA an unsolicited proposal to develop the Iloilo port, while Kudos Trucking, a private terminal operator whose main facilities are located in Davao, offered to rehabilitate and improve the port in General Santos.
ICTSI has estimated an investment of over P8.7 billion to fully develop the Iloilo Port Complex, which includes dredging and deepening of the drafts and channel to allow the direct entry of new generation international vessels and purchase of modern quayside crane handling equipment.
ICTSI also eyes to substantially invest in the development of the Port of Dumangas in order to seamlessly handle the spill over from the city port.
The Iloilo-Dumangas bid is ICTSI’s first foray in the Visayas with the end goal of providing a national network of ports that would further improve the country’s supply chain and competitiveness in global trade.
Securing the OPS gives both ICTSI and Kudos Trucking proponent the upper hand once a Swiss challenge is undertaken for their respective proposals.
The PPA in 2019 has also granted Dennis Uy’s Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. the OPS for the Davao Sasa Port modernization project.
Chelsea submitted a 25-year joint venture agreement for the modernization of Davao Sasa Port, which will run in five phases, with the first and second phase to be completed in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
The project targets to deliver port capacity expansion, flow improvement of waterborne commerce and inter-island seaborne commerce and foreign trades, and streamlining, enhancement, and optimization of port maintenance and operations.