The state-run Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) is set to raise VND2.7 trillion (US$169 million) from a domestic bond issue this year to finance the construction of a key expressway in northern Vietnam. The corporate bond issue recently approved by the government will be guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance.
The VEC – an arm of the Ministry of Transport said the raised capital would be invested in the first phase of the 56-km Cau Gie-Ninh Binh expressway through Ha Nam, Ha Tay, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh provinces.
In a dispatch to the VEC earlier this week, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung instructed the ministries of transport and finance, and relevant agencies to assist the corporation in drawing up a bond schedule.
The project requires a total investment capital of VND5.4 trillion ($335 million) for two phases.
The first phase, for which construction kicked off last January, will see VEC investing VND3.7 trillion ($230 million) to build the four-lane road expected to open traffic in 2009.
Of the investment sum, VEC will obtain VND1 trillion from the state coffers to implement the project.
In the second phase, the expressway will be expanded into six lanes.
As planned, the project owner will build other facilities along road like petrol and auto repair stations, rescue centers, motels and advertising services.
Vietnam has only four roads under construction that rise to international expressway standards.
Under the government’s infrastructure development plan between now and 2020, the target of a 2,353km highway to be built by 2015 will be the VEC’s largest task.
Expressways account for 4.44% of total roadway mileage in Singapore, 0.61 per cent in Malaysia, and 2.4 per cent in Korea, but they are almost negligible in Vietnam.
Building highways in the country has long fallen under the authority of Project Management Units (PMUs) within the Ministry of Transport. Since 2004, however, the task has been transferred to the VEC.
Source: Thanh Nien
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment