Seaport boom killing itself without infrastructure

Vietnam's rapid development has overwhelmed the southern seaport industry, which is suffering without the necessary infrastructure, a maritime official has warned.

Vietnam National Maritime Bureau's vice director Nguyen Trong Hue said the total volume of cargo handled at strategic southern sites last year reached 54.4 million tons, which surpassed an earlier goal of 53 million tons initially set for 2010.

He said that in 2009-2012, all existing ports and those about to go on stream would be overloaded, leaving several million tons of cargo in the lurch.

But the problem is not only the need for more seaports - plenty of zoning has been designated for that - the problem is the lack of infrastructure to support such projects.

Le Cong Minh, director of Ho Chi Minh City's Saigon Port, said plans to build a new sea port in Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone cannot proceed as there are no roads to the site.

In Ba Ria Vung Tau Province's Cai Mep-Thi Vai region, five investors have been granted licenses to build ports for hundreds of millions of US dollars but have yet to break ground pending a 10km road connecting National Highway 51.

Without the road, it has been impossible to bring equipment and construction materials to the site, investors said.

In Dong Nai Province, a 20km strip of land between Phu Huu and Ong Keo ports has been zoned by the government to be developed into a seaport complex.

Though several potential foreign firms have completed feasibility studies of the port, no investor has committed due to the lack of infrastructure around the site, according to the HCMC-based Portcoast seaport design and consulting company.

Similarly, an 11km strip between Nhon Trach Area and Phuoc An Port in Dong Nai has also been zoned for seaports but no project has yet to take shape due to similar infrastructure inadequacy.

Last month, a central government delegation visited some strategic waterway transportation zones in the south and was told by private enterprises in Dong Nai, Ba Ria Vung Tau and HCMC that they would readily commit to port projects if they had access to necessary utilities and communications at the sites.

Meanwhile, existing routes are also in need of expansion.

Local authorities said if more seaports were to be built, the four-lane National Highway 51 passing through Dong Nai and Ba Ria Vung Tau provinces would face serious gridlock unless more lanes were added.

Adding to transportation woes is the Tan Cang Port, which has been moved from Binh Thanh district to Nha Be District⬢s suburban Cat Lai Area two years sooner than planned.

Though the fact that new port's annual capacity has been raised to 24-25 million tons, the highest in Vietnam, the blessing may be a curse in disguise as Tan Cang Company said the two-lane Provincial Route 25 in the area is falling apart as trucks move to and from the new dock.

The road⬢s health looks to get worse as a municipal policy has planned to move more ports from the city to Cat Lai over the next few years.

Pham Anh Tuan, project director at Portcoast, said early investment in seaport infrastructures would only bring "high and visible economic returns" because the infrastructure would pave the way for efficient seaports whose revenues the government can use to handsomely fund other port infrastructure projects.