Dong Hoi port project: Remains on paper for 11 years
English - Ngày đăng : 10:32, 11/08/2022
Dong Hoi seaport in Quynh Lap commune, Hoang Mai town, Nghe An province was identified as a specialized port, approved by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) with detailed planning in Decision No. 838/QD-BGTVT on April 28, 2011 with the function of a specialized port serving import- export needs of goods for thermal power plants, steel factories, construction materials in Dong Hoi Industrial Park and the surrounding areas.
With the planning area of 1,096.7 ha (including the construction areas on land and on the water), with a total estimated budget for the period 2009 - 2015 of VND 10,574 billion, VND 16,555 billion for the period of 2020, including the breakwater and the navigation way.
According to the project, the main task of Dong Hoi port is to serve export- import needs of goods for thermal power plants, steel factories and construction materials in Dong Hoi Industrial Park and the surrounding areas. The project mainly uses self -mobilized capital from investors of Dong Hoi Industrial Park, mobilized capital from agencies and businesses participating in investment and operation in the IP, and other law fully mobilized capital sources.
Dong Hoi port area is divided into 4 functional subdivisions: port for the thermal power plant, port for the steel factory, port for the cement factory, port for construction materials and other functional areas. Particularly, the budget for the cement port area accounts for the largest part, with nearly VND 8,000 billion.
According to the approved planning plan, the planning scope of Dong Hoi port area meets the needs of building 19 special-use ports with the total length of 4,450 meters for ships up to 50,000 DWT, and cargo volumes going through the port of 5.8-7.0 million tons/year.
However, for the past 11 years, the project has not been implemented. According to the reporter’s observation, the infrastructure of the project of Dong Hoi sea port has not been completed.
The beginning of July, 2022, there is only a road to the port. Besides, the technical infrastructure for the port as the breakwater and the navigation way have not been completed. Therefore, projects of port investments have had di culties in progresses of construction and operation. Import-exporters in Nghe An have to transport their cargo to Nghi Son ( anh Hoa) or Cua Lo Port, 100km away from Dong Hoi, which increases transport costs and many procedures.
LONGING FOR INVESTORS
To remove di culties for Dong Hoi port and quickly turn the big goals of this seaport into reality, before April 9, 2020, Nghe An province sent a document request to the Ministry of Transport for a plan to build a wharf, specialized in cement handling at Dong Hoi port proposed by Tan Thang JSC, the goal is to serve the transport and consumption of clinker and cement products of Tan Thang Cement Plantand to serve the transport of goods in the area.
In case the plan is implemented, the port can be exploited immediately a er completion for the planned vessel size, regardless of the formation of the southern and northern dikes of the wharf area, promptly meeting immediate practical needs to serve the operation of Tan Thang Cement Plant and contribute to promoting the development of Dong Hoi Industrial Park and Dong Hoi Wharf a er many years of being unable to deploy.
This proposal of Nghe An province has received the support of the Vietnam Maritime Administration and it was also proposed the Ministry of Transport for comments. The People's Committee of Nghe An province will update the scale and plan for total adjustment of the remaining in Dong Hoi port area.
Talking about the reason for the slow progress of the Dong Hoi port project, the Management Board of the Southeastern Economic Zone (Nghe An) said the investment projects in the wharfs all face diffculties in implementing construction investment because there has been no investor in technical infrastructure systems for the whole port area such as breakwaters and navigation way for vessels.
In recent years, it is very difficult to allocate capital for the project because the breakwater project and the navigation way to Dong Hoi port were not in the list of priority investment projects according to the Decision approving the adjustment of the Planning of developing Vietnam's seaport system to 2020, orientation to 2030, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1037/QD- TTg dated June 24, 2014. On the other hand, calling for investors for the above project is still difficult because the capital source for implementation is very large.
According to the detailed plan of Dong Hoi seaport area approved by the Ministry of Transport in 2011, the system of breakwaters and navigation way entering Dong Hoi port are planned to be used for all ports. However, according to Clause 3, Article 4, Decree No. 58/2017/ND-CP dated May 10, 2017 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Vietnam Maritime Code on management of maritime activities "Organizations and individuals investing in the construction of seaports, wharves, wharves, oating terminals, anchorages and specialized transmission lines are responsible for investing in the construction and establishment of infrastructure of seaports and specialized navigation way, water area...”.
Thus, when investors build a port in accordance with the detailed planning of Dong Hoi seaport area, it is very di cult to build and set up the navigational way and water areas to put the port into operation soon.
Le Tien Tri - Head of the Management Board of Southeastern Economic Zone (Nghe An) said: "Currently, this project is adjusting the planning, leading to a number of previous projects that have no basis for implementation. Recently, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee assigned the Southeastern Economic Management Board to adjust the planning to submit to the Ministry of Transport. And we still have to wait for the adjustment of the planning..."