Rach Gia City in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang. Viet Nam needs over US$50 billion for transport infrastructure development by 2020. — VNA/VNS Photo Bui Truong Giang

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam needs more than VND1,000 trillion (US$50 billion) to develop transport infrastructure by 2020, a conference held here yesterday by the Ministry of Transport was told.

The cost of improving the national road system would take 64.1 per cent of the total capital, railways 11.7 per cent and aviation 10 per cent, said Tran Minh Phuong, deputy head of the ministry's Planning and Investment Department.

He said development was imperative because national transport failed to meet the needs of sustainable and rapid socio-economic development.

"We still have no high-speed rail and our major airports, including Noi Bai, Da Nang and Tan Son Nhat, are overloaded," he said.

Traffic congestion often occurred in big cities and there were often poor connections between rail terminals and seaports - or roads and seaports, he said.

Limited budget, shortages of both human resources and advanced technology were to blame for the situation.

Statistics from the ministry showed that the State Budget covered about 30-40 per cent of the total capital needed to develop the sector by 2020.

This led to a high demand for international investment, especially private investment, to develop the sector, Phuong said.

Although Viet Nam had improved the legal framework for PPP projects, such as a clear framework for project selection, evaluation and bidding, barriers still existed, said Paul Valelly, the World Bank's Transport Cluster leader.

He said a lack of clear policy on indirect government support and a framework for backstopping PPP obligations, such as minimum revenue guarantees, was one of the barriers. Limited experience by public agencies in planning and supervising PPP projects was also a problem.

Vu Tuan Anh, deputy head of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project Management Board, said the ministry asked the Government's PPP steering committee to select a certain number of projects to implement.

Anh named positive changes of policies to attract private investment. The Government issued policies for "socialisation" of investments for transport-infrastructure-development projects, he said.

Also yesterday, the Ministry of Transport opened the Viet Nam International Transport Exhibition at the Ha Noi International Exhibition Centre.

The event is to mark the 70th anniversary of the Viet Nam Transport Sector. — VNS