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 The Vietnamese Road Administration has revealed several projects calling investors to join in the form of build - operate - transfer (BOT).
Except for the VND700 billion (US$41 million)
project to build a section of the National Road 6 from Ba La to Xuan
Mai, the VND2,300 billion (US$135 million) project to upgrade and
expand the section of the National Road 1A from La Son to Lang Co and
build Phu Gia and Phuoc Tuong tunnels, seven remaining road projects
are regarded as “super projects” with investment capital of billions of
US dollars each.
Mr. Truong Tan Vien, Director of the Planning and
Investment Department under the Ministry of Transport said these seven
“super projects” will be classified into two groups: inter-region
expressways and belt-roads in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the two
largest cities in Vietnam.
Three projects are involved in highway
development, namely the 205-km Dau Giay - Lien Khuong expressway with a
total estimated capital of VND37,500 billion (US$2.2 billion), the
79-km Nha Trang - Phan Thiet expressway with an aggregate investment
capital of VND10,000 billion (US$600 million) and the 150-km Quang Ngai
- Quy Nhon highway with a total estimated investment capital of
VND28,000 billion (US$1.64 billion).
The Vietnam Road Administration has revealed four
belt-road projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, namely the 136-km
six-lane expressway linking Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen and Bac Giang
with a total investment capital of VND51,874 billion (US$3.1 billion) -
an expressway through five cities; an VND60,000 billion (US$3.53
billion) project to build an expressway to link Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Bac
Giang, Hung Yen and Vinh Phuc; a project to construct the 87.4-km
express belt-road 3 in Ho Chi Minh City; and a project to build the
VND60 billion 152-km expres belt-road 4 linking Ho Chi Minh City with
Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An.
Apart from the aforementioned nine projects, the
147-km Noi Bai - Ha Long highway costing VND20,557 billion has sought
an investor, the China-based Gitex Co., Ltd. However, the investor
asked for a construction aid of some US$400 million in the first 10
years and wanted to purchase Vietnamese minerals at preferential
prices. This is against the Vietnam’s laws. Therefore, the Ministry of
Transport may seek another investor.
"Although economic effectiveness is good,
investors still shun these projects because of their large investment
scales. Besides, a majority of projects have not completed an
investment proposal; thus, investors lack information to consider the
investment," said Mr. Mai Van Duc, Director of the Vietnam Road
Administration
According to specialists, the Government's permit
for Dau Giay - Phan Thiet and Ninh Binh - Thanh Hoa highway projects to
use the capital from the World Bank's International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) in accordance the public private
partnership (PPP) is possibly a new way for mobilising capital for
expressways.
Mr. Ngo Duc Thinh, Deputy Transport Minister,
said: "With actual difficulties on capital recovery of expressway
projects, the permit to investors to use capital borrowed from the
World Bank's IBRD or other sources of preferential capital through PPP
form is seen the most effective and feasible because IBRD capital has
low interest rate, long lending term, less risks for investors and less
capital needed from the State.”
Basically, the Ministry of Transport supports
capital raising methods of investors. Mr. Mai Van Duc added: "Competent
State organs may split belt-road projects to attract investors more
easily."
VCCI (12/08/2009)
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