THE National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordinating Council (NEDA-ICC) will reevaluate and deliberate on July 27 on the proposed P9.9-billion international container port in Tayud, Consolacion.
Cebu Port Authority (CPA) General Manager Edmund Tan said the NEDA Regional Office 7 will presemt the proposal during the NEDA-ICC deliberation, as it was the agency that endorsed the project.
Tan said the deliberation was first scheduled today, July 7, but was moved to July 27 to give time for the new administration in NEDA to read the necessary documents.
University of the Philippines (UP) economics professor Ernesto Pernia, a Boholano, is now the NEDA secretary general under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Pernia was also an economics professor of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Speaking at the 888 News Forum on Tuesday, Tan said that NEDA 7 Director Efren Carreon will present the proposal for a new international container port.
Tan said that once the NEDA-ICC endorses the project, the same will be forwarded to the NEDA Full Council chaired by President Duterte.
He added that the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) conducted the feasibility study and will finance the project through the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) with minimal interest rates.
Once the new international container port is realized, Tan said the major thoroughfares in Cebu City and Mandaue City will be decongested of 10-wheeler trucks moving cargo containers from the existing Cebu International Port (CIP).
At present, the traffic authorities of Cebu City and Mandaue City are imposing a truck ban during the day and only allow its operations at night due to traffic congestion.
According to the CPA general manager, the construction of the new port, which includes the reclamation of about 25 hectares of foreshore lands, will take three years.
If the proposed project gains approval this year, it will be completed by 2019.
Records show that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was the first to conduct the feasibility study on the new port and the results were presented in 2002 during the time of former CPA general manager Jake Marquez, but it did not push through.
“The JICA and KOICA studies are almost the same. But were preferred KOICA because the project will be funded by the Korean Government through ODA,” Tan said.
Tan said the CPA will coordinate with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) once the project is approved by the NEDA Full Council and President Duterte.