Philippines delays award of key bridge project amid China risk
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The Philippines and China had previously clashed in disputed waters near outposts Beijing has built in the South China Sea.
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MANILA – The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that was part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears.
The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, Manila’s public works ministry said in a statement on Dec 1 in response to queries from Bloomberg.
The agency said it will announce the winning bidder once the ADB has fully evaluated the proposals for technical and financial compliance and has given a “no-objection letter”.
The agency, which initially targeted to issue the award notice on Nov 29, did not directly refer to national security concerns raised by a local shipping groups against a Chinese bidder.
“The target date of award and notice to proceed for the project will be announced in the coming weeks,” it added.
Chinese companies offered some of the most competitive tenders for the 7.25 billion peso (S$160 million) land approach project, a section of a US$3.9 billion (S$5 billion) plan to build a 32km bridge across the mouth of Manila Bay.
But their bids have faced opposition in Manila, threatening to delay a key infrastructure project that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr vowed will improve transport and logistics in the nation’s main Luzon island.
The bridge project will get US$2.11 billion funding from the ADB, with US$1.14 billion to be co-financed by Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, according to Manila’s finance agency.
In a letter addressed to Public Works Minister Vince Dizon and Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr, the Philippine Interisland Shipping Association and other maritime industry stakeholders urged the government to reject the bid of China Harbour Engineering Company, which offered to build the project for 4.87 billion pesos, the lowest of all bids.
Awarding the project that will link Bataan and Cavite provinces to a Chinese state-owned company “creates an untenable and unacceptable risk of sabotage and intelligence gathering on vital national assets”, the association said in a letter posted on its Facebook page in October.
The group also cited “unmitigated national security risks and serious concerns over business integrity” of the Chinese firm.
China Harbour is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company.
The US State Department sanctioned units of China Communications in 2020 for the “destructive dredging” of Beijing’s outposts in the South China Sea and for engaging in “corruption, predatory financing, environmental destruction, and other abuses across the world”.
The Marcos administration has challenged Beijing’s expansive claim
But the government has also tried to insulate the Philippines’ economic ties with its top trading partner China from the geopolitical tensions.
General Andres Centino, a former military chief who is currently Mr Marcos’ adviser on the South China Sea, said he has heard about other government security agencies looking into the bridge project.
“There really are agencies that advise on whether a particular project can ago ahead just because there is this company which perhaps has a spurious background,” he said. BLOOMBERG
