|
Pilot project to bring PPP dream closer
The starter’s gun is poised to be fired on Vietnam’s first pilot public-private partnership project, the investment model which will address the nation’s shortage of quality infrastructure.
The World Bank last week reaffirmed that Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway project would be Vietnam’s first pilot public-private partnership (PPP) investment.
PPP is a collaboration between a government and private sector to carry out projects with social benefits, under agreements to share responsibilities and risks. The MPI and the Ministry of Finance would propose the prime minister place the expressway project in the list of projects to be funded by the World Bank. The Ministry of Transport (MoT) will approve the project’s feasibility study in September, 2010. In May 2011, the MoT will organise bidding for choosing private investors to develop the project.
The government has appointed Bitexco Group, a domestic private company, as a project investor and competitive bidding will select other private investors. The expressway is one of southern Vietnam’s most important transport infrastructure projects and will connect Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Thuan province’s Phan Thiet City.
MPI Vice Minister Dang Huy Dong said the pilot project “will pave the way for other PPP projects in Vietnam”. “A pilot PPP project is very important for the completion of a PPP financing legal framework that will be promulgated in September, 2010,” Dong said.
Last October, the MPI and the World Bank finalised a draft PPP financing framework, expected to get the prime minister’s approval in September, 2010. According to the draft, the government would decide specific projects, which would be invested under the PPP investment form.
The government could fund 30 per cent of total investment of the project or even 50 per cent for specific projects with a longer gestation period, high cost recovery and catering to poorer. The MPI and World Bank have also agreed to select more pilot projects to ensure a successful PPP implementationin Vietnam.
VietNamNet, VIR
|
