HCMC port relocation project making slow headway

The relocation of Ho Chi Minh City ports from the city center to the suburbs is making slow progress, mostly because of a shortage of funds.

In 2006, the city announced a plan to shift Ba Son Shipyard, Saigon New Port, Saigon Port, Tan Thuan Dong Port and VegePort from the inner city to larger premises elsewhere so they could handle more and larger vessels.

Although the relocations were to be finished by 2010, only the Saigon New Port relocation is likely to meet the deadline, having already moved.

Saigon Port chief Le Cong Minh said the port had found it difficult to raise VND6.7 trillion (US$392 million) to invest in a two-stage plan to build new facilities in HCMC’s outlying Nha Be District.

The port was seeking government assistance to get a preferential loan interest rate, Minh said.

In fact, Saigon Port, which consists of Nha Rong and Khanh Hoi ports, is set to move to a 100- hectare area in Nha Be and the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex to the southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

Nguyen Ngoc Toi, a representative of the Saigon Port relocation board, said the port and its foreign partners were building two joint venture ports in Cai Mep -Thi Vai, which were due to be completed by 2009 and mid-2010.

Ba Son Shipyard, which last month finished clearing a 95- hectare area in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province for its new facilities, said it was still awaiting government approvals to raise capital, possibly by transferring or leasing out its current property.

Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has recently approved the zoning plan under which Ba Son Shipyard will be cleared to build a complex including offices and hotels, according to a local newswire.

The ports and shipyard have sought government assistance to get a bank loan to ensure relocation can be completed on schedule.

So far, only Saigon New Port has shifted to its new site in District 2’s Cat Lai but the country’s largest container port said it really needed capital for equipment for its new project, Cai Mep Thuong Port, in Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

VNA

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