Representatives of the Ministry of Transport reported that the government had paid much attention on developing transportation system in the region with a lot of big projects including the expressway HCMC-TPHCM- Trung Luong, bridges Can Tho, Ham Luong, Rach Mieu, Co Chien, and Nam Can, the National Highway 1A through provinces in the Mekong Delta.

The transportation system in the region was improved remarkably and contributed to promoting the region’s socio-economic growth, they said. However it still lags behind the country’s general picture and the region’s demand.

The region’s river traffic takes up 70 percent of the country’s river traffic yet it is not fully exploited. Upon sea transportation, around 80 percent of export items of the Mekong Delta must go through ports in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighboring province of Dong Nai leading to increase cost and low profit.

It is urgent to speed up sea transportation in the next time, they said.
 
39 more road projects will be undertaken  in the region during the period of 2016-2020 and the region will need VND73,033 billion (US$ 3.3 billion), 23 maritime traffic projects will be carried out, costingVND18,006 billion (US$807,209,167); 12 projects on river traffic will cost VND11,027 billion (US$ 494,340,432). The government will invest in radar station and improve Phu Quoc Airport in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.
 
The Government asked ministries and other government agencies to help the Mekong Delta construct the logistics center. The logistics will be developed by 2020 to help promoting the region’s economy and Can Tho has been selected for the construction of the center.
 
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue said that investment and infrastructure in the Mekong Delta is not as good as expectation and it has not been any breakthrough in the field.
Hence, it is necessary to choose key traffic projects to connect provinces in a bid to curb waste due to sparse investment, he said.
 
The Vice PM required ministries of Transport, Investment and Planning and Finance to liaise with Mekong Delta provinces to review and carry out key projects and consider capital source from selling state bond, ODA capital for urgent projects.

The key projects chosen to be priority include upgrading road Phung Hiep worth VND1,500 billion, the national highway Nam Song Hau costing VND2,200 billion, the national highway No.60 at the cost of VND1,142 billion, Dai Ngai Bridge in Soc Trang of the cost of VND8 trillion, the second Rach Mieu Bridge between Tien Giang and Ben Tre, the second My Thuan Bridge .
 

By SGGP