ECC to bid out North Harbor in 2 contracts

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved a plan to bid out North Harbor under two contracts by June 2001 but Cabinet officials said government is going to allow the possibility of a single contractor winning both contracts.

Taking off from the model used in the privatization of the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage Systems (MWSS), Economic and Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla told reporters that North Harbor would be divided into two service contracts when it is bid out next year.

Medalla said the ECC thumbed down a proposal to attach an other port to the privatization of North Harbor, thus quelling speculations that the sale of the North Harbor facilities would also include the Port of General Santos in General Santos City, biggest port facility in Mindanao.

According to Medalla, the plan to divide the facility into two contracts has been approved by the ECC which also directed the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to conduct a new study on how the contracts would be packaged and how the privatization would be conducted.

According to Medalla, the PPA would head a technical committee together with the Coordinating Council for Public Sector Participation (CCPSP). He said this committee would study the ramifications of the new plan, including which areas would constitute each service contract.

Medalla said the committee will also have to consider the possibility that only one service contract would attract bidders while the other would be orphaned for lack of interested bidders. He said the objective was to package both contracts so that they are both attractive.

"More likely than not, we will allow investors to bid for one or both service contracts," Medalla said. "This means that if one bidder wins once contract, it will still be allowed to bid for the other."

Medalla said the technical committee has until June to complete everything and set up the public bid. "It will take this long because all previous studies were based on a single operatorship. The committee will have to start from scratch," he explained.