A KOREAN firm has qualified for the post-qualification process after putting in the lowest bid for the construction of the New Cebu International Container Port (NCICP) in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion town in northern Cebu, the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Department of Transportation announced.

Mary Knoll Lague-Bolasa, public information officer of the Cebu Port Authority, revealed that at least two Korean construction firms participated in the technical bid on May 20, 2022 and then dropped their bids.

During the second technical bid on June 3, 2022, one of the two Korean firms qualified for the post-qualification process after putting in the lowest bid for the P9.96-billion project.

The BAC conducted a bid evaluation process on June 10 and found out that the lowest bidder had already complied with all the requirements needed for the project to be awarded to it.

Bolasa said the post-qualification process by the BAC technical working group is still ongoing and they could not determine yet when it would be finished, especially since the lowest bidder is based in Korea.

The name of the Korean construction firm has not been revealed yet pending the issuance of a notice to proceed with the construction work.

The project is funded by a US$172,641,000 (P9.7 billion) loan from the Export-Import Bank of Korea from the Republic of Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund.

The Philippines and South Korea signed the $172.641 million loan agreement on June 4, 2018 during then President Rodrigo Duterte’s official visit to South Korea.

The entire project will cost over P10 billion as the Philippines is expected to provide counterpart funding of $26.09 million or P1.47 billion (at today’s exchange rate of P56.19 to the US dollar).

The loan is valid from Sept. 21, 2018 to Aug. 21, 2023.

The port will be built on a 25-hectare reclaimed land.

Construction of the NCICP is scheduled to be completed in two years and 11 months.

The project is seen to ease the flow of traffic between Cebu City and Mandaue City as the bulk of the cargo will now come from the town of Consolacion, while the current Cebu International Port in Cebu City will be made part of the Port of Cebu domestic port to augment port domestic operations. (TPT)