Investment for $630 million My Thuy seaport pledged

Construction of a new international port will help improve the central region’s economic growth-Photo: Le Toan

The Quang Tri People’s Committee last week worked with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), asking it to appraise the project’s investment proposal and then submit the proposal to the prime minister for approval, with My Thuy International Port Joint Venture Company (MTIP) being the sole investor.

Located in Hai Lang district, the 685-hectare project is considered key in the province’s Dong Nam Economic Zone.

According to the committee, the project’s investment capital will be fully covered by the investor. Specifically, of $630 million, $94.5 million (15 per cent) will come from MTIP, while $535.5 million will be loaned by the company’s strategic partners, including South Korea’s Sungjee-CJ partnership, PineStreet Infra Co, Ltd, and the US financial fund Emp Infra LLC. All these investors specialise in infrastructure, roads, and seaports.

“Both PineStreet Infra and Emp Infra have committed to financing this project. Specifically, Emp Infra has promised to provide a loan of $230 million, and PineStreet Infra in July 2016 sent [to the committee] a second document promising to provide a loan of $630 million - but on the condition that South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & Construction is allowed to be the port’s main contractor,” said the committee’s Chairman Nguyen Duc Chinh.

MTIP can also mobilise more capital from some local investment funds such as State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), and South Korea’s corporations and investors, by co-operating in infrastructure construction, and providing and installing equipment to dismantle cargo, according to Chinh.

SCIC has worked with MTIP many times to discuss investment co-operation in this project.

MTIP signed strategic co-operation contracts with Sungjee-CJ partnership, South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & Construction, and Daewoo Construction for constructing the port’s infrastructure. MTIP also established a joint venture with a local firm to produce concrete, which will be sold to the local market and supplied for the port’s construction.

The company also signed a deal with South Korea’s Aju Total Company to supply equipment for loading and unloading cargo at the port.

At present, the project’s investment proposal has been submitted to the MPI, while its environmental impact assessment report has been submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration and approval.

Other ministries, including Transport, Finance, Science and Technology, Construction, Industry and Trade, and Defence, and localities including Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue, and Danang have also given the thumbs-up to this project, according to the committee.

Such an agreement will be the foundation for the government to adopt the project’s investment.

In fact, the committee sent a proposal dated August 26, 2016 to the prime minister, asking him to approve the investment of the deep-water port project, and to allow MTIP to implement it.

“Many local and foreign strategic investors currently want to invest in the zone, such as Vietnam’s Becamex and Vingroup, Thailand’s Amata, and South Korea’s Hyundai. However, they say their projects will be built here if My Thuy International Sea Port is constructed,” said Chinh. “The port’s construction will boost the province’s economic development, with 2,200 jobs to be generated in 2024, and 6,500 by 2027.”

The project will be constructed in three stages, with the first running from 2017 and 2020 ($230 million), the second during 2020-2024 ($230 million), and the third during 2024-2027 ($170 million).