Government seeks WB soft funding for southern expressway
Source: 14-MAY-2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 2
May 14, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM Preparations are being speeded up to arrange loans from the World Bank for a project to build an expressway linking Dau Giay T -Junction in Dong Nai with Phan Thiet in Binh J'huan District, likely under the public-private partnership scheme.

The government last week added the project to the list of projects seeking loans from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which is a development financial institution under the World Bank Group.

The inclusion of the road project followed a working meeting in March between Vietnam's transport minister Ho Nghia Dung and the then country director of the World Bank in Vietnam Ajay Chhibber. Chhibber has just finished his office term in Vietnam and now appointed as assistant administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and director of UNDP's Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.

In a statement issued by the government Office last week, the prime minister agreed with relevant ministries in adding Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway in to the priority list of projects financed by IBRD, paving the way for local ministries to start negotiations with the World Bank over the funding.

In the meeting in March, minister Ho Nghia Dung sought loans for key expressways in Vietnam, including the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet project costing some US$750 million. The other two expressways were Ninh Binh-Thanh Hoa with the total cost of US$960 million and the Da Nang-Quang Ngai requiring some US$1 billion.

Chhibber of the WB and the transport minister also agreed to pilot the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme in developing Dau Giay-Phan Thiet and Ninh Binh-Thanh Hoa projects. In this regard the government late last year agreed in principle to a proposal by the transport ministry to name the private company Binh Minh Import Export Production and Trading Co (Bitexco) as the tentative developer of the expressway under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) form.

Therefore, in the latest statement, the prime minister also asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to weigh the selection of Bitexco as the developer, and if the WB loans are forthcoming, Bitexco will likely be awarded the project.

Under the master plan prepared by TEDI South -a design company under the transport ministry, the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet road will connect the planned HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway to Phan Thiet City. As such, the new expressway will create a vital route between the southern focal economic zone and Binh Thuan, and facilitate the development of new urban townships, economic zones and tourism facilities along the road.

The 128-kilometre road will go in parallel and on the left side of National Highway 1A and have six traffic lanes, allowing for maximum vehicular speed of 120 kilometres per hour.

Bitexco is the developer of large-scale property projects in Hanoi and HCM City such as The Manor, the Financial Tower, Ma Lang complex and Ben Thanh Twin Towers.

* In related news, the government has also okayed construction of an expressway linking Hanoi and the northern city port of Hai Phong, scheduled to begin on May 19.

The six-lane road is designed for vehicles to run at 120 kilometres per hour, and is 105.5 kilometres long and 70 metres wide.

It requires total investment of nearly 18.6 trillion dong, or some US$l.08 billion, mainly financed by the Vietnam Development Bank (VDB), the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB), and other investors.

VDB general director Nguyen Quang Dung affirmed that the project will start in Hai Phong, and the whole project is expected for completion by the last quarter of 2011.