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Waterways become a vital link in $2.2bil upgrade
The Ministry of Transport recently approved a plan for waterway transport to 2020 at a cost of nearly VND37 trillion (US$2.2 billion) to help link economic regions all over the country and other countries, raising the competitiveness of domestic waterway transport.
This plan will take advantage of natural conditions to transport large volumes of cargo at a cheap cost and with minimal environmental pollution. This will help meet the country’s socio-economic development and international economic integration demands while assuring sustainable development, according to Tran Dac Suu, head of the Domestic Waterway Department.
Over the past few years, investment in waterway transport infrastructure had been minimal, limiting its competitiveness compared with other kinds of transport, and leading to an increasing number of waterway accidents, he said.
Infrastructure of inland waterways will be linked with other transport systems to create a synchronous and uninterrupted network. Part of the plan is to assure that the waterway sector’s development be attached with other sectors such as irrigation and hydro-electricity.
According to the plan, in the northern region, five waterway routes will be modified, and seven new ones created.
In the southern region, four routes will be modified and 10 new ones created. In Central Vietnam, 10 new routes will be created.
As for northern ports, seven will be expanded and five new ones built.
In the southern region, 26 commodity ports will be developed, along with 15 passenger ports.
In the central region, six cargo ports will be developed.
The plan targets by 2020 to have an annual transport capability of 190 – 210 million tonnes, and 540 million passengers.
The transport ships are expected to have a total capacity of 12 million tonnes, and offer 1 million passenger seats.
Suu said that in the past few years, with rapid socio-economic development, 90 per cent of waterway transport had been privatised, with most ships operating at a capacity of 300-600 tonnes.
According to the plan, the old transport ships will be gradually replaced with those no more than five to seven years old.
Among the ships, 65 per cent are expected to be self-propelled and the remainder tugboats.
In the northern waterways and in Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the plan calls for more tugboats with capacities of over 1,500 tonnes, self-propelled ships of 500 tonnes and those capable of travelling both in rivers and seas, of up to 2,000 tonnes. The plan further calls for these regions to have high-speed boats with between 30 and 120 seats each.
By 2020, domestic waterway transport should reach a capacity of 190-210 million tonnes of commodities and 530-540 million passengers.
The port system will have 66 commodity ports and 21 ports for passengers while important ports such as Hanoi and Nam Dinh will be turned into passenger ports to serve both tourism and to handle commodities.
State enterprises will keep only 10-15 per cent of transport market shares while the State will provide incentives for other economic sectors to participate in waterway transport businesses, according to the plan.
VNN
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