Davao reclamation proposal attracts challenger
October 13, 2015 at 08:47am
Davao City Investment and Promotion Center head Ivan C. Cortez said the challenger, a consortium of companies based in Malaysia and the Netherlands, is now preparing to participate in the Swiss challenge to Mega Harbour Development Corp.’s unsolicited proposal.
Mr. Cortez said the Swiss challenge will immediately follow the publication of the notice of invitation to prequalify and bid within the next two months.
“All possible bidders will be considered and the city government will then decide which among them has the best offer,” he said, without providing further details about the challenger.
Under the Swiss challenge mechanism, Mega Harbour as the original proponent of the project can match a challenger’s bid.
The project, which will have a timetable of three years for the construction phase, will have four islands of about 50 hectares each along the city’s coastline from Sta. Ana Wharf to the Bucana area where the Davao River flows out into the Gulf.
One of the islands will be dedicated to port operations with a planned 2.5 kilometers of berthing, more than double that of the city’s biggest port, Sasa Port.
The other two islands will be a mixed-use area with residential and commercial components.
The fourth island will be used by the city government for mass housing and other projects.
Under the initial discussions between Mega Harbour and the city government, the latter will take about 30% of the reclaimed area for its use. However, the local government recently said it might need only five hectares for its plans. The final allocation for the city government will depend on the outcome of talks with the winning bidder.
The reclamation project was in part prompted by a huge fire that hit a densely populated area in Bucana.
SASA PORT
The development and expansion of the Sta. Ana Wharf is expected to have a bearing on the Sasa Port modernization project, which has drawn five pre-qualified bidders, both local and foreign.
The P18.99-billion Sasa modernization project, to be rolled out by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) under the public-private partnership (PPP) program, has met opposition from the local business community and local governments units.
The timetable for the bidding process has been set by the DoTC with an initial site visit scheduled on Oct. 19 to 23, followed by the submission of bidders’ comments on the first draft of concession agreement by Oct. 21.
A pre-bid conference will be held on Oct. 26 and the first round of one-on-one consultations will be on Oct. 27 to 29 while submission and opening of bids will be within the fourth quarter this year, according to a DoTC bid bulletin.
The national government plans to award the contract by April 2016.
Source: bworldonline.com
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