Cebu traders to exercise caution when dealing with Chinese port builders

CEBU CITY – Allegations of corruption hounding the Chinese firm that bagged the proposed multi-billion peso international port project in Cebu were enough to create jitters among local businessmen.

Even CPA General Manager Edmund Tan vowed to be cautious when dealing with Mega Harbour and China Communication Construction Co. Ltd., which would undertake the P16-billion Cebu International and Bulk Terminal project in Consolacion town, northern Cebu.

“We will evaluate them properly as CPA is the sole agency in charge of all port developments in the province of Cebu,” he said.

“In the interest of the country, we should keep away from companies with dubious reputations,” said Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph.

Joseph said that while this was worrisome, he has no issues with the Philippines working with Chinese companies that have track records for good governance and quality, which he said there are several.

Ted Locson Jr., Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) vice president for external affairs, said the report that the Chinese firm was blacklisted by World Bank due to corruption was enough reason to be concerned.

“We can only hope that government, with its program on good governance, will be able to have the check and balance for this type of projects,” he said.

The business sector, Locson added, can only continue to advocate for transparency and good governance practices.

Mega Harbour was proposing to reclaim 85 hectares of land in Consolacion where a 1,200-meter berthing facility will be constructed, increasing Cebu’s capacity to receive port calls from international vessels.

The CPA earlier voiced out its opposition against the Mega Harbour proposal since it was pursuing the same project on the same site, albeit on a smaller scale.

The authority was eying a 12-hectare site in the same area for the new P9.3-billion international container port to decongest the existing port at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City.

But Mega Harbour recently entered into an investment deal with the state-owned Chinese firm CCCC Dredging Company for the “Cebu International and Bulk Terminal project,” signed during President Duterte’s visit to China last week where he secured a total of $15 billion in investment pledges.

In September, the local firm also entered into a joint venture agreement with the municipal government of Consolacion.

Mega Harbour is a subsidiary of the R-II Group of Companies, which is engaged in infrastructure, housing and property development, port operations, waste management, and environmental projects, among others.

CCCC Dredging, on the other hand, is a subsidiary of China Communication Construction Co. (CCCC) Ltd., which in 2011, the World Bank sanctioned as a result of fraudulent practices of one of its other subsidiaries.

China Road and Bridge Corp. (CRBC), whose contract with the Bases Conversation and Development Authority (BCDA) is also included in the multi-billion-peso deal with China, has been blacklisted by the World Bank since 2009.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino said his office will closely monitor the project to ensure that the project would be carried out with transparency at every level.

“Cebu needs it, and we have to make sure that the government and people of Cebu will get the best deal, whether it will be developed by the private sector or CPA (Cebu Port Authority) itself,” he said.