The Philippine Ports Authority dropped the planned Davao Sasa Port Modernization Project, an official said over the weekend.
“We have received approval from the board to study the plan, and to revalidate the old plans of PPA to redevelop the Sasa port at a budget of P4.7 [billion] to P4.9 billion. So definitely, we will already abandon the proposed project, which was approved by Neda,” Jay Daniel Santiago, general manager of PPA, said.
The National Economic and Development Authority approved the modernization of Davao Sasa Port for P19 billion under the Aquino administration’s public private partnership scheme.
“PPA is actually thinking we can fund it from our own internally generated funds and continue operating Davao Sasa as a government port,” Santiago said.
“Because there are arguments saying there should still be a government presence in that area to make sure that port fees and cargo fees will be maintained,” he said.
“We are going to request Neda for closure of the proposed project, so we can withdraw it,” he said.
The Transportation Department recently prequalified Asian Terminals Inc., International Container Terminal Services Inc., Bollore Africa Logistics, Singapore-based Portek International Pte. Ltd. and San Miguel Corp. for the Davao Sasa Port project.
Sasa Port is actually designed for break bulk cargo vessels, which is vital to the economy of Davao City.
About 500,000 metric tons of steel, wheat, fertilizer, motor vehicles, heavy equipment and other cargo not suitable for containers went through Sasa Port in 2014, according to PPA data.
The Davao Integrated Port and Stevedoring Services Corp., an operator at the Sasa port, said the current capacity of Sasa stood at 700,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.
The yearly volume handled by DIPSSCOR, a subsidiary of ICTSI, was only 300,000 TEUs.