Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has urged HCM City authorities to review the process of moving inner-city ports along the Sai Gon River to outlying areas and resolving hurdles faced in the process.

Speaking at a meeting on Thursday, he said the relocation was behind schedule and ordered the Ministry of Construction and the municipal administration to approve the general master plan for the relocation by June.

This would enable investors to define new functions for relocated ports, look for partners, and generate funds for the relocation, which had become even more important given the Government’s shortage of money for infrastructure development.

An urgent task now was to create a smooth link within the southern key economic zone and ease traffic in downdown HCM City.

The transport sector should allocate funds for work related to infrastructure and others that would affect the development of the new ports, with priority given to those for which funds could be mobilised from public sources and investors.

The widened National Highway 51 should be opened early next year, work on the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway quickly started, and the Soai Rap River dredged.

Work on the inter-port road system should be synchronised with the development of the port network.

The Ministry of Finance should announce regulations on the relocation of ports and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province should ensure site clearance so that the projects could proceed as planned.

Stumbling blocks

The first phase of ground clearance has completed at the 100-ha Hiep Phuoc port complex in Nha Be District that will house the relocated Nha Rong-Khanh Hoi port which will be capable of handling 50,000-tonne vessels and 18 million tonnes of cargo annually.

Though the first 600-m stretch of Hiep Phuoc’s wharf is scheduled to be commissioned in the third quarter this year, construction of basic facilities, including the road system and power and water supply, has been delayed.

The Ba Son Shipyard in District 1 will be relocated to Tan Thanh District in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, with the 3.2-ha facility set to open this month.

However, plans for using its earlier site on Ton Duc Thang Street have only now been submitted to the city People’s Committee for approval.

A new location has yet to be identified for Tan Thuan Dong Port in District 7 or plans made for using its present premises.

City authorities have put off relocation of the Fruit and Vegetable Port also in District 7 by a decade.

The Ministry of Transport said the delay in completing the road network connecting ports and the arterial National Highway 51 has caused difficulties in operating the ports that have been relocated.

Source: VNS