MPIC, Harbour Centre to form joint venture for North Harbor project

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has asked Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) to create a joint venture company that will undertake the P14.5-billion project involving the development, management, and operation of the Manila North Harbor.

This was after the PPA formally gave the notice of award to the joint venture consortium of MPIC and HCPTI which earlier won the right to modernize the country’s oldest and busiest port.

The joint venture will be a 65-35 undertaking between HCPTI and MPIC, respectively. Company officials said the P14.5-billion project cost will be divided accordingly.

The PPA board headed by general manager Oscar Sevilla met last Thursday and unanimously approved the recommendation of the PPA special bids and awards committee (SBAC) which found the joint venture “fully complying with the instructions to bidders.”

The notice of award was forwarded to the joint venture authorized representative Edwin Jeremillo and as it instructed the group to accomplish several undertakings before the signing of contract which would take place next month.

“Please be informed that the PPA has accepted your bid for the development, management, operation and maintenance of the Manila North Harbor and formally issues this notice of award to the Harbour Centre Port Terminal, Inc./Metro Pacific Investments Corp. joint venture,” Sevilla said in the two page-notice.

Sevilla also asked the winning bidder to incorporate the joint venture company within 30 days from receipt of notice of award and to undertake and submit within 15 days original copies of the Credit facility Certificate amounting to P1.1 billion and the Performance Security which is 60 percent of the annual fixed fee.

A contract between the PPA and consortium is expected to be signed five days after the incorporation of the joint venture company.

The notice of award was issued following the approval and submission of the results of the public bidding by the PPA SBAC headed by Leopoldo Bungubung, PPA assistant general manager for operations.

Bungubung said the SBAC also reported that after duly conducting the post-qualification, “the submitted documents and other requirements it has committed have been properly verified and found in order.”

“As a result, the bid of said joint venture has been declared as a Single Calculated and Responsive Bid.

Accordingly, the SBAC has recommended to management and the board the award of the Manila North Harbor Modernization Project to the HCPTI/MPIC joint venture and that the proper notice of award be forthwith issued,” Bungubung added.

The joint venture passed all the criteria of the two-year rigorous pre-qualification and bid process mandated by the PPA’s terms of reference.

Last Aug. 14, the consortium formally submitted its P14.5-billion bid for the modernization of the dilapidated port which is in danger of collapsing.

Harbour Centre CEO Michael Romero earlier said the modernization of North Harbor would revitalize and enhance economic activities in Manila and would spur growth across the country.

“The government will not spend a single centavo for the project, yet this will result to the emergence of a new and improved image of Manila and the Philippines. This is first and foremost a victory for the Filipino people,” he stressed.

The project will raise more than P6.8 billion in revenues for the PPA over 25 years and decrease port rates at an average of 10 to 15 percent. More than 1000 workers of the different operators of North Harbor will be absorbed, while an additional 5000 to 10,000 jobs will be generated directly and indirectly by the ambitious construction and modern operations entailed in the modernization.

The impoverished Tondo area is also set to be revitalized with the modernized port, company officials emphasized.