Ho Chi Minh City’s transport sector needs around US$40 billion to fulfill its development plans by 2020 instead of the $26 billion planned two years ago, a municipal administration meeting heard Monday.

The city spent VND12 trillion ($650 million) on transport infrastructure projects this year, including VND8 trillion ($433 million) for compensation, he said.

Phuong also attributed the spike in investment costs to increased prices of construction materials.

The government should consider allowing the southern city to use all trade surplus and other incomes after submitting it to the state budget, in order to invest the funds in transportation, Phuong suggested, also asking that the city is provided with increased budget allocations for its development projects.

Van Trong Ly, deputy head of the Office of the Government, however, said HCMC should consider more solutions to source such huge investments instead of waiting for the central Government’s support.

Ly said the city could call for investment under build-operation-transfer (BOT) projects.

Imposing quotas on personal vehicle ownership, or increasing vehicles registration and transporting fees should also be considered as solutions to increasing traffic congestion, Ly said.

Huynh Thi Nhan, secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, said the city had in fact tried many ways to mobilize investment needed for transportation projects, but they had not been able to meet the demand so far.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai told the meeting the government would meet with city representatives and other related agencies to deal with the investment needs, but stressed priority would be given to raising investment from the private sector.

HCMC now manages nearly 4.5 million vehicles, including over four million motorbikes and some 404,000 cars, Phuong reported, adding that every day another 115 cars and 1,150 motorbikes were registered in the city.

At another meeting held the same day in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, Deputy Minister of Transport Ngo Thinh Duc said the government would make great investments into the delta’s transportation system.

“The region will have a modern transport network including many high speed roadways, railways, international seaways and airways in a short time,” Duc said.

Over the past four years more than 30 projects have been launched there, including the Can Tho Airport that is able to handle 2.5 million passengers a year.

Other projects like a high-speed railway between HCMC and Can Tho City and an airport for chartered airplanes in An Giang province were currently under way, Duc said.

Source: Tuoi Tre, TBKTSG