The Department of Transportation on Tuesday announced that the construction of the New Cebu International Container Port is expected to start within the third quarter of the year.

According to DoTr Undersecretary Elmer Sarmiento, the project's funder — Export-Import Bank of Korea — has granted the renewal of the loan of P10.45 billion, adding that the procurement for the project has been delayed by the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Sarmiento said that the agency is hoping to award the civil works contract within the third quarter. The groundwork should have originally started in August 2022. The civil works was bid out in 2022 and won by a Korean firm.

He added that the KEXIM has approved the proposed changes and DoTr is now awaiting the special allotment release order.

Sarmiento explained that the project has two approaches — civil works which will be funded by official development assistance from KEXIM — and the purchase of quay cranes will be under public-private partnership.

The NCICP will be built on a 25-hectare reclaimed area in Tayud, Consolacion, Cebu and will be connected to the mainland by a 300-meter offshore bridge.

It will have a berthing facility with a 500-meter-long quay wall that can simultaneously accommodate two 2,000 twenty-foot equipment unit vessels, operating facilities and structures for containers such as a freight station and an inspection shed, an access road and bridge, and a dredged waterway and turning basin. It will be equipped with four quay cranes.

A counterpart funding will be financed by Philippine government of P1.28 billion.

In 2016, the NCICP was approved by NEDA Board and the signed loan agreement then with KEXIM pegged at $172.64 million.

NCICP is seen as the long-term solution to growing volumes handled by the Cebu International Port in Cebu City.