Dominican Rep to launch port construction, supervision tenders this year

The Dominican Republic, together with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is looking to put out to tender this year the construction and supervision of the US$100mn rehabilitation and expansion of Manzanillo port.

Both tender calls are due to be launched in August. 

“During this year, the conceptual and geotechnical engineering studies will be completed. In parallel, the bidding process for the definitive design and construction is being developed, which began on March 30 with the prequalification stage, where the firms that can present an economic offer for the project will be selected,” IDB’s Dominican Republic senior transport specialist Manuel Rodríguez Porcel and operations chief Gilles Damas told BNamericas in a written response. 

Last June, the IDB signed a US$100mn contract with the Dominican Republic to finance the project. So far, the development bank has launched a couple of tenders, including the prequalification stage for repairing a 90km road linking to Manzanillo port on the country's north coast near the Haitian border.

The port project involves a dock off the coast of Pepillo Salcedo for containers. It also involves an access bridge and restoring basic infrastructure, including access roads. 

“This will allow the simultaneous operation of two vessels, on the north side up to Post-Panamax drafts and on the south Panamax drafts,” the IDB officials said.

“Additionally, the project contemplates the execution of complementary works, such as the reconfiguration of the port and logistics area, the modernization of equipment and new administrative and control facilities, as well as the socio-environmental management of the project to minimize the impacts of its execution,” they said. 

According to IDB’s calendar, the construction and supervision contracts should be awarded by February 2023. 

Works are due to start in 2Q23 and take 18 months, IDB said.