PPP a bridge for infrastructure

The $7.1 million official development assistance project (ODA) is funded by Australian Agency for International Development through the World Bank. The project is planned to implement within two years.

Under the project, the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway project will be Vietnam's first public-private partnership (PPP) highway to have a support transaction consultant to select the second developer in accordance with international bidding method.

The Dau Giay- Phan Thiet project, with a total investment scaled up to VND23.2 trillion ($1.12 billion), includes a main highway of 98.7km crossing the southern provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Thuan with designed speed of 120 kilometre per hour, and an access road of 2.58km. Bitexco group is the first developer of this project.

The project is expected to shorten travel time from Ho Chi Minh City to the south-central region and significantly ameliorate traffic conditions in National Highway 1, as well as encourage development of industrial zones along the route and ecological seaside resorts in Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan and Khanh Hoa provinces.

The new project also will support research to implement Thanh Hoa-Bai Vot expressway project under PPP model. Specifically, this support will determine sections to apply under PPP or co-ordinate between PPP with other models.

The Thanh Hoa- Bai Vot espressway has total invesment capital of $1.55 billion with 98.3 km length and designed speed of 120 kilometre per hour.

Vietnam needs about $385-395 billion for developing infrastructure during 2011-2020, about half of which is expected to come from the private sector, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).