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Roadwork delays new terminal
Construction on one of the country’s most important infrastructure projects, the Sai Gon Premier Container Terminal, is in its last phase, but road work near the site is far from completion.
Construction on the US$366 million terminal, which is scheduled to open on October 1, involves a 950-metre quay and facilities on 40 hectares of adjoining land.
DP World, an international marine terminal operator based in Dubai, is the major investor in the terminal, which is located in Nha Be district’s Hiep Phuoc commune.
DP World said work on several roads and bridges near the site was behind schedule, partly due to a lag in site clearance and lack of capital.
Without the completion of the streets, the operation of the terminal and hundreds of factories in the IP would face problems, a DP World official said.
The terminal, located along the western bank of Soai Rap River in Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park, will have the capacity to handle 1.5 million TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) a year.
DP World said the north-south axis street (Nguyen Huu Tho street), with four lanes connecting Nguyen Van Linh street and Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park, as well as the entrance and exit to the site, is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
Nguyen Xuan Bang, Director of HCM City’s Urban Traffic Management Unit No4, said two lanes on the north-south axis street were finished, with three bridges still under construction.
Because of capital shortage, the HCM City People’s Committee on July 22 gave builders supplementary funds to complete the three bridges.
City officials said two of the bridges, the Ba Chiem 2 and Rach Dia 2, should be finished by year-end, and Phuoc Kieng 2 bridge, the first quarter of next year.
The project to build the three bridges is over budget by VND134 billion ($7.5 million).
Another problem facing the terminal project is the lack of drains on Nguyen Van Tao street, which enters the site via a densely populated area.
In addition, the street cannot withstand trucks carrying more than eight tonnes.
The commune’s Department of Project Management said the widening and upgrading of Nguyen Van Tao Street began in early May at a cost of VND76.7 billion ($4.4 million).
Nha Be Commune authorities had invested VND1 billion ($57,000) to repair the street, but the work was so poorly done that the road will have to be rebuilt.
The commune department told builders to finish the street work by May 2010.
Another street, a six-lane road linking the park with HCM City’s centre, would allow trucks to transport materials and equipment without using Nguyen Van Tao Street, which is an old road.
The Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company (IPC) said it would build the 2.2-km road parallel to Nguyen Van Tao street, but construction has not begun. The street had been scheduled to be completed in June this year.
Huynh Cong Tham, Deputy Chief of the IPC’s Project Management Department, said the VND331 billion ($18.6 million) road project would begin on August 10, but that it would not be finished this year because of slow site clearance.
In a related matter, serious traffic jams on Interprovincial Road No25B have caused business to be stagnant at Cat Lai New Port in District 2.
The SP-PSA International Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province had to spend $700,000 to build a temporary road because construction on a street, being built by the province, had not been completed.
vietnamnet, vietnamnews
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