Haiphong looks to implement new major projects

Nguyen Van Tung, Chairman of the Haiphong People’s Committee, said the city wants to build a new major bridge worth more than VND7 trillion ($311.1 million).

The bridge, which will connect Haiphong’s city centre with its Cat Hai offshore district, will run in parallel with the existing Tan Vu-Lach Huyen Bridge that was inaugurated in last September.

Haiphong plans to construct new infrastructure projects to fuel its socioeconomic development

“The new bridge will help ease traffic congestions at Tan Vu-Lach Huyen bridge and create opportunities for us to attract more investment. We propose that the government and ministries approve this project soon,” Tung said.

The city’s authorities have submitted the project’s dossier to the government and relevant ministries.

During his recent meeting in Haiphong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed on this project, which is expected to be co-developed by locally-owned Sun Group and the city.

The 5.44 kilometre Tan Vu-Lach Huyen Bridge was the first project to be constructed under public-private partnership (PPP) between Vietnam and Japan. The four-lane bridge was co-constructed by Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co., Ltd. and Vietnam’s Cienco4 and Truong Son Construction Corporation.

The total investment capital hit VND11.849 trillion ($526.62 million) worth of Japanese official development assistance and Vietnamese counter-funding.

Tung also said that for the city to further its socioeconomic development and attract more investment, the city has asked the prime minister for permission to construct terminal 2 at the city’s Cat Bi International Airport under the PPP format.

Terminal 1 was designed to accommodate about two million passengers per year. However, last year, the total number of passengers using the terminal mounted to 2.3 million, up from the 1.8 million in 2016.

A few months ago, the Haiphong People’s Committee sent a document to the Government Office and ministries asking them to propose the prime minister to assign Haiphong to implement the Terminal 2 project, which is expected to serve about five million passengers per year by 2020.

In June 2017, Phuc agreed in principle on implementing this project and ordered the Ministry of Transport to revise the planning of the airport.

In March 2017, the city also sent a document to the prime minister stating that Vietjet wanted to become the main investor of this project, which will be designed to cover about 22 hectares of land, with total investment capital of about VND6 trillion ($266.66 million).

Last week, Chairman Tung also asked the government to allow Haiphong to build a transformer station of 220 kilovolts in Cat Hai offshore district, which will serve the operations of local firms, including Vingroup’s $1.5 billion Vinfast automobile project.

As a Vietnamese automotive brand with an international vision, Vinfast has set a large production target, with an expected capacity of 250,000 cars in the first phase and 500,000 cars in the second phase, making it the leading car manufacturer in Southeast Asia.