The Philippines Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has received qualification documents form six companies to carry out the Davao Sasa Port Modernization project

The six companies are the following: Anflocor, APMT, AsianTerminals Inc., Bollore, Portek and San Miguel Corp. (SMC). DOTC Secretary Joseph Abaya stated:

 "This shows the enormous potential of the Davao region. The construction of a modernized port in Sasa will help meet the growing demand for world-class port services in Davao."

The project is scheduled to be awarded by April 2016. The project's first phase is scheduled to be completed by 2018 and the port is expected to be full operational by the end of 2019.

The preferred bidder will be responsible for the construction and modernization of the existing port including the new apron, linear quay, expansion of the back-up area, container yards, warehouses, and the installation of new equipment like seven gantry cranes and 13 rubber-tyred gantry. The dedicated container handling facilities will have an initial design capacity of 1,900 container ground slots to a minimum of 2,700 container ground slots. It will have an annual capacity of 1.2 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and maintenance (DBFOM) basis. The concession contract will have a period of 30 years.

The total project investment is estimated at P17.46 billion (US$383 million).

The Development Bank of the Philippines and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are acting as the transaction advisors to DOCT for the two-stage bidding to be conducted in accordance with the build-operate-transfer (BOT) Law.

Last May a total of five firms had submitted their expressions of interest for the project. Later DOTC extended the deadline to submit qualification documents from June 30 to July 29.