Attended the working session, to Lao Cai province, there were Mr. Dang Xuan Phong, Chairman; Mr. Le Ngoc Hung, Vice Chairman; and leaders of departments of province.

To the Vietnam Maritime Administration, there were Mr. Do Hong Thai, Vice Director, representatives from departments, and representatives from Construction Scheme Planning Advisory unit to develop ICDs.

View of the meeting

At the meeting, the Construction consultant representatives of the ICDs Development in Vietnam Scheme have reported detailed planning of ICDs development systems in Vietnam to 2020, and orientation to 2030.

Accordingly, there are almost 20 ICDs over Viet Nam, 09 of them are in the North and 04 of them are in Lao Cai-Ha Noi-Hai Phong economic corridor including Pho Moi (Lao Cai), Thuy Van (Phu Tho), Hai Duong city (Hai Duong), and Hai Phong. Conceivably until 2020, the ICD system in the Lao Cai-Ha Noi-Hai Phong economic rridor is able to transport 1.2 million tons of cargo, and 2.3 million tons of cargo until 2030.

However, according to evaluation, the current ICD system is having sorts of inadequacies such as inappropriate location of constructed ICDs, small-scale, connecting railways, waterways, unsuitable inland roads, weak capacity of local ICDs… So, rearrangement of ICDs over the country and in the Lao Cai-Ha Noi-Hai Phong economic corridor in order to improve operation capacity, maximum mobilization of all resources for the development of ICDs is needed and urgent.

At the meeting, representatives discussed and clarified potentials, strength point as well as difficulties of developing the ICD systems in Lao Cai-Ha Noi-Hai Phong economic corridor and in Lao Cai province. Through the meeting, they also suggested solutions to the Government considering and investing construction resources at ICDs.

According to the evaluation, since Lao Cai province has international border gate, economic gate of Lao Cai- Ha Noi-Hai Phong with the Southwestern Chinese provinces, the amount of transshipped cargo through Lao Cai is very large. ICDs at Lao Cai province (Pho Moi ICD), an area of 10 hactares, is one of the biggest ICD built with Road and Railway.

Based on survey’s results and study of the Maritime Administration in Lao Cai province, currently ICDs basically meet the demand of picking up and transferring cargo serving for import, export, and development of socio-economics. However, in the coming years, the Pho Moi ICD will be overload, and Lao Cai province needs to consider choosing construction place with enough acreage, infrastructure capacity and ensuring the requirements of various transportation types’ connection (Railway, road, waterway, and airway) to meet the requirements.

Spoken at the meeting, Mr. Do Hong Thao, Vice Director of the Vietnam Maritime Bureau confirmed the great potential of economic development of Lao Cai province, especially in international border gate and heavy industry, then the demand of cargo transportation will increase every year. The Delegation desired Lao Cai province will incorporate with the Viet Nam Maritime Administration to research and choose suitable location with detailed ICDs construction plan, then submit to Government for approval and complete these plans by making these ICDs working in the near future.

Spoken at the meeting, Mr. Dang Xuan Phong, Chairman appreciated the operations of survey about cargo transportation and planning the ICDs of the Viet Nam Maritime Administration in Lao Cai province. The Chairman confirmed that: Lao Cai province is a transit point between Viet Nam as well as ASEAN area with the Southwest Chinese provinces; the potentials, import-export strength, the cargo transportation in Lao Cai province with increase every year, so the demand for transportation infrastructure as well as infrastructure systems including ICD serving for storage and transportation is very important.

To prepare for planning, choosing suitable terrestrial port construction sites, the Chairman suggested the Viet Nam Maritime Administration to research the relavent factors, then preparing standard plan for ICD systems in Lao Cai province and submitting to the Government for approval.

Source: LCĐT