State reveals strategic infrastructure wishlist

The combined cost of implementing all of these projects is estimated at $68 billion. The wishlist includes key roading projects such as the north-south expressway, the Ho Chi Minh Highway as well as roads linking Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong, Trung Luong-My Thuan-Can Tho, Hanoi-Lao Cai, Hanoi-Haiphong, Hanoi-Lang Son, Ha Long-Mong Cai and Dau Giay-Dalat.
About $44 billion in ODA packages will be needed to develop rail projects such as the north-south express railway, Haiphong-Hanoi-Lao Cai, Hanoi-Lang Son and Dak Nong-Thi Vai-Phu My routes.
The Dak Nong-Thi Vai-Phu My rail route will serve bauxite mining projects in the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Nong and Lam Dong.
The two important ports on the wishlist are Lach Huyen in the north and Van Phong in the south, and the state-run Vinalines has been appointed as the major investor in both projects. Japan’s Sumitomo is also interested in cooperating with the Van Phong project through the build-operate-transfer model.
For the first time in Vietnam, FDI will be used to develop the Long Thanh airport in Dong Nai province and the Duong To-Phu Quoc airport in Kien Giang. The second terminal at Noi Bai and the Danang airport are also on the wishlist.
Long Thanh airport will be developed into Vietnam’s biggest international airport at an estimated cost of $2 billion. It will be able to handle the Airbus A380 airliner, and will receive 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo each year.
The Duong To-Phu Quoc airport will be built at a cost of $156 million between 2008 and 2012. It will be able to receive two million passengers each year.
The second terminal at Noi Bai will cost $388 million to build with Japanese ODA, and the Danang airport will draw on $74 million from the state budget and private investors. Both are expected to be finished before 2020.
The wishlist was issued in accordance with prime ministerial decision 412/QD-TTg.