Ba Ria – Vung Tau province started the construction of the Cai Mep – Thi Vai road connecting all seaports along the Thi Vai river on December 4.

The project has a total investment of over VND 6.3 trillion.

The 21.3 kilometre road runs from the general container port Cai Mep Ha in Tan Thanh district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province to the Phuoc An port in Long Thanh district, Dong Nai province.

Six bridges, 4.7 kilometre in combined length, will be built on the road.

The project is divided into two phases. In the first phase, the road and bridges in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province will be built with a total investment of over VND 2.8 trillion. This phase is scheduled to be over by 2012. In the second phase from 2012 to 2015, the 3.254 kilometre long Phuoc An bridge will be built with a total investment of over VND 3.5 trillion

The road is of extreme important significance in transporting goods for 41 ports (14 ports are being exploited, 14 others are being built and 13 remaining ports are being prepared to invest with a total registered capital of around VND 100 trillion) and six industrial parts along the road section in Ba Ria – Vung Tau.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on November 29 issued an order to kick-start the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project in Than Cuu Nghia commune, Chau Thanh district, Tien Giang province.

Present at the ground-breaking ceremony were Minister of Public Security, Le Hong Anh, and ranking officials from relevant ministries and departments and leaders from the southwestern region.

The project is part of the North-South expressway and plays an important role in connecting and promoting socio-economic developments between the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway will be 43km long, starting from Than Cuu Nghia commune, Tien Giang province, and end where National Highway 1A connects to My Thuan Bridge. With a total investment capital of VND19,000 billion, the expressway will consist of 4 lanes capable of coping with speeds of 120km per hour. 54 bridges are also scheduled to be built along with stations and technical support services on the expressway.

Addressing the ceremony, PM Dung commended the Ministry of Transport (MoT), the Expressway Investment Joint Stock Company, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), related agencies and localities for their well-coordinated efforts to start work as scheduled.

He requested that the MoT, investors and the consultancy unit finish construction work in 3 years and ensure the quality of the project. He also asked Tien Giang province to press ahead with site clearance work and deal with resettlement issues.

Mr. Dung emphasised that the country’s modernization and industrialization needs to develop its expressway system for future. He said as the state budget is still limited, it is necessary to mobilize outside sources for infrastructure investment and the Government will create favourable conditions for investors, he added.

He asked the MoT to coordinate with related agencies to sign contracts for the rights to collect fees on the expressway, which is estimated to cost over VND9,000 billion.

The Ministry of Transport said it had disbursed VND20.6 trillion (US$1.21 billion) for 34 vital projects over the last 10 months, accounting for 80 per cent of its yearly budget.

The disbursement, exceeding last year’s spending by 10 per cent and the largest in five years, was used for bridges, expressways, highways and seaports.

Among major transport projects are the Nhat Tan cable-stayed bridge across the Hong (Red) River in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh Highway’s 2nd phase, the Noi Bai-Lao Cai expressway, the expressway linking HCM City–Long Thanh and Dau Giay, Van Phong international transhipment seaport in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa, Cai Nui-Can Tho Port and the extension of Highway 51.

Other vital transport projects slated for completion in the last two months of this year include the Quan Lo-Phung Hiep road in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, Thanh Tri Bridge, the HCM City–Trung Luong expressway on National Highway 1, and Lang-Hoa Lac expressway.

Transport Minister Ho Nghia Dung said the disbursement this year had been impressive but criticised the transport sector for being behind schedule in the assessment, design and bidding for construction projects.

In addition, the transport sector would start construction on three other expressway and waterway multi-billion-dong projects by year end.

– The construction of the Ha Noi–Thai Nguyen expressway began earlier this week. The 63.1km four-lane project is the biggest expressway in the midland northern province with a total investment capital of VND8,104 billion ($476 million).

– An expressway linking Trung Luong and My Thuan in Tien Giang Province will be built in late November under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) form. The project worth VND15,000 billion ($882 million) is 42 km long.

– A large waterway, to be built by the Marine Navigation Department in mid December for large capacity vessels to enter Hau River, is the largest dredging project so far in the Cuu long Delta. It will create a deep waterway for vessels of 10,000 to 20,000 DWT to go in and out of the Hau River.

The project has an investment capital of VND3,148billion ($185 million) from the State budget.

The World Bank (WB) and the Ministry of Planning and Investment held a seminar in Hanoi on November 24 to discuss public private partnership (PPP) in building Vietnam’s infrastructure.

The event marked Vietnam’s completion of some basic steps in building a PPP programme and highlighted the WB’s commitment to helping Vietnam establish a market-oriented system for financing infrastructure.

Addressing the seminar, Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha said the state should adopt a policy of combining state and private sources in developing infrastructure. The state shouldn’t invest in those fields where the private sector can do well, he said. Instead, it should participate in projects where the state is needed as an ensuring agency or a contributor of capital. These projects will be implemented under the PPP model, Mr Ha said.

The finance official also told the seminar that the state needs to work out master plans for infrastructure construction by sector and region, giving priority to PPP.

The WB Country Director for Vietnam, Victoria Kwakwa, said pilot PPP projects create mutual confidence between the private sector and investors, which is essential in ensuring the sustainability of the PPP programme. Ms Kwakwa added that the WB Board of Directors has approved a loan programme to help Vietnam pursue its PPP policy.

Over the past two years, the WB has worked to boost private capital inflows into infrastructure projects and help Vietnam conduct pilot projects.

The Vietnamese government considers infrastructure development a key to ensuring continuous and balanced economic growth. However, the country faces many challenges in expanding its infrastructure such as a relatively low number of privately-funded projects and complicated procedures for approving and licensing projects.(VOV)