The current inland container depot My Dinh ICD in Pham Hung road. — Photo Interserco

The committee's decision allows the state-owned International Investment Trade and Service Group (Interserco) to invest in the construction of the depot, which will cover 18.2ha of land in what is now mostly a rice-cultivation area.

The main construction area spans ​​64,085sq.m, including a six-storey customs office and a six-storey operations office, warehouses, a bonded warehouse, and an inspection area among other additions to the technical infrastructure.

The total investment of the project is estimated to be VND1.6 trillion (US$75.1 million), with 20 per cent contributed by Interserco and the other 80 per cent coming from other sources.

Interserco plans to begin construction this year and is expected to finish in the third quarter of 2017.

The construction will replace the 52,000sq.m. My Dinh ICD, currently the largest ICD, on Pham Hung Road in the south of Ha Noi, which connects the northern portal city of Hai Phong with International Noi Bai Airport and Huu Nghi border gate, effectively connecting Viet Nam with China in Lang Son Province.

The My Dinh ICD offers warehouses, standard facilities and infrastructure, customs clearance, and global freight management. It also has expertise with import-export procedures, packing, loading and unloading services and warehousing and distribution, as well as cross-border logistics solutions and duty-free goods services.

Interserco claimed it had decided to expand the service and move the depot to avoid traffic congestion in urban areas in light of the growing demand for transportation and logistics services.

Last year, the local media reported that the Hanoi Customs Department had achieved a total export and import turnover of $18.54 billion, an increase of 16.6 per cent over 2013, adding that My Dinh ICD had contributed strongly to the result.— VNS