THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is now in the process of evaluating the unsolicited proposal of Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. for the development of the Davao-Sasa Port, after the group of businessman Dennis A. Uy completed the submission of the required documents for assessment.
Jay Daniel R. Santiago, general manager at the state-owned port regulator, said his office has already received the completion documents for the P11-billion unsolicited proposal, and now targets to finish its evaluation as early as this month.
“They have submitted the completion documents sometime in late December, and we have acknowledge the submission. We will evaluate it this whole month of January, and hopefully by the end of January or first half of February, we will be able to determine the feasibility of the proposal,” he said in an interview.
Santiago added that once the proposal is approved, his office will officially forward it to the Department of Transportation for evaluation. After this, if it approves the proposal, it will then endorse it to the National Economic and Development Authority for review.
“If necessary, we will recommend to the Department of Transportation for further endorsement to Neda for it to give the proponent the original proponent status — if they will pass the evaluation,” he noted.
As briefly discussed earlier by Chelsea President Chryss Alfonsus V. Damuy, the proposal involves the rehabilitation of the existing terminal and the installation of modern equipment in the port. It will be done in four phases, and each phase will be triggered by a certain milestone in cargo and passenger volumes.
The proposal also includes the reclamation of land to expand the port for both international and domestic cargo and passenger traffic. It also involves the operations and maintenance of the said port for a period of 25 years.
Chelsea is aggressively expanding its business verticals, as it will soon enter the telecommunications market, being part of the winning bidder for the third telco spot. It has also submitted a proposal for the modernization, expansion and operation and maintenance of the Davao International Airport.