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Philippines: Tighter timeline set to fasttrack unsolicited proposals for ports
MANILA, Philippines — A tighter timeline to finalize concession agreements has been set by the government for proponents who have submitted unsolicited proposals for port projects.
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) general manager Jay Santiago said he has been ordered by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to wrap up negotiations for unsolicited proposals within a maximum of 60 days upon the proponents’ receipt of the letter of acceptance for completeness from the agency.
“His (Tugade) order is for the strict observance of timelines. Within 60 days, you have to make a decision to accept or reject. No ifs, no buts,” Santiago said.
“Under the NEDA guidelines, we have 30 days but you can extend it under the discretion of the agency. But the Secretary has an instruction to limit the extension up to a maximum of 60 days total. So even if the NEDA guidelines allow me to extend it further, I’m limited by the instructions of the DOTr to limit it to 60 days. After 60 days, I have to make a decision whether (the project is) accepted or rejected,” he said.
There are currently three unsolicited proposals submitted to the PPA. These are Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp.’s P11.2-billion unsolicited offer for the modernization of the Davao Sasa port, International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s P8.7 billion proposal to upgrade the Iloilo Port, and an offer from Davao-based Kudos Trucking Corp. to rehabilitate and improve the port in General Santos.
Of the three proposals, only that from Dennis Uy’s Chelsea has been found complete, thus the issuance of a letter of acceptance for completeness.
“We have 30 days to conclude negotiations, extendable for another 30 days so 60 days in total. If we do that and we’re successful, they can probably expect the OPS (original proponent status). So no later than first week of September it should be done already,” Santiago said.
ICTSI’s proposal is still lacking some documents, according to Santiago.
“We wrote them that they still have a deficiency in their submission so they have not submitted so far. We have a checklist for that. They have not been able to complete that,” he said.
Kudos Trucking’s proposal, meanwhile, is still undergoing evaluation, once found complete, Santiago said the firm’s proposal would be presented for approval by the PPA board this month.
“If they are complete then we should be able to issue the letter of acceptance after the July board,” he said.
PPA said it would continue to pursue better partnership with the private sector to guarantee that port services are given at the highest quality possible, particularly in ports with high concentration of people and cargoes.
Santiago said aside from the three unsolicited proposal it has received for the modernization of major ports, the PPA is also preparing to bid out terminal leasing contracts for 10 ports which he declined to identify at the moment.
The PPA said some 200 port projects have been completed in the first three years under the Duterte administration and an additional 100 port projects are expected to be completed within the year.
The projects are aimed at trade facilitation and faster turnaround time of vessels, thus, resulting in lower cost and better purchasing power for the Filipinos.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/07/15/1934676/tighter-timeline-set-fasttrack-unsolicited-proposals-ports#MdYirm7p5xdyLs0z.99