P500 million pier project to start in October

CEBU, Philippines —  After getting postponed for five months due to the pandemic, the bidding of Cebu Port Authority (CPA)’s P500-million Pier 5 construction project has finally pushed through.

Nine contractors from Visayas and Mindanao had participated in the bidding of the project that has an Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) of P508,340,279.03.

During the opening of bids, only four were declared eligible which include Sunwest Construction and Development Corp./A.T. Tan Construction Corporation Joint Venture; Equi-Parco Construction Corp.; UKC Builders, Inc.; and BNR Construction and Development Corp.

Declared ineligible were WTG Construction and Development Corp.; Vicente T. Lao Construction; F. Gurrea Construction Inc./JASA Builders Joint Venture; Premium Megastructures, Inc.; and Mamsar Construction and Industrial Corp.

BNR Construction and Development Corp. has supposedly submitted the lowest bid price of P507,445,064.27 and offered a 22-percent discount making the bid amount of P395,885,150.13.

However, Sunwest Construction and Development Corp./A.T. Tan Construction Corp. JV offered a higher discount of 24.24 percent to its bid price of P508,087,615.09 making its bid amount to P384,927,177.19.

Presided by Atty. Karen Quiñanola-Gonzales being the vice chairman, the CPA Bids and Awards Committee has declared the bid of Sunwest Construction and Development Corp./A.T. Tan Construction Corp. JV as the Lowest Calculated Bid which is now being subjected to post-qualification evaluation.

The new pier is expected to provide additional berthing space and cargo area to decongest the Port of Cebu.

The project is set to be implemented next month and is expected to be completed in December 2021.

The proposed Pier 5 will be 155 meters long and 50 meters wide with a draft of 8.5 to 11 meters. It will have the same concrete deck elevation, mooring facilities and back-up area coverage as Pier 4. — GAN (FREEMAN)