HCMC calls for investment in infrastructure

The government of HCMC has rolled out hundreds of projects, including six in Thu Thiem New Urban Area, which will need local and foreign investors to get involved in.

City vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen told an investment promotion conference on October 11 that the city would develop a comprehensive traffic system to fuel socio-economic development and ease the pressure of high population growth on infrastructure.

The conference was attended by 500 investors, and representatives of municipal agencies and departments.

There are 64 traffic infrastructure development projects, five urban rehabilitation projects and seven flood control projects requiring private sector capital. Eleven national-level projects will be implemented in the city, including nine for traffic improvement.

The city looks to become one of the biggest economic, financial, commercial and science-technology centers in Southeast Asia. Therefore, in its development plan by 2020 with a vision towards 2025, the city will need private investment in services including finance, banking-insurance, tourism, transport-warehousing, post-telecom, information technology, real estate, consulting, science and technology, healthcare, and education.

The four priority groups of industries are mechanical engineering, electronics-information technology, chemical-rubber-plastic and food-foodstuff processing, and urban infrastructure, environment, healthcare and manpower.

Tuyen said the city would promote domestic and international investments in these sectors so that it can become a modern, friendly and livable place.

According to a construction plan until 2020 and after 2025, the city will be expanded towards four directions – east, south, northwest and southwest, said a representative of the Department of Zoning and Architecture.

The city is working on eight metro lines, three tram lines and a monorail line with a combined length of 220 kilometers. The Saigon Hi-Tech Park in District 9, and new urban areas like Thu Thiem, Saigon South, Thanh Da South, Tay Bac and Hiep Phuoc are underway, offering lots of opportunities for investors.

Vo Van Hoan, office manager of  the HCMC People’s Committee, said the city would need a staggering US$40 billion to fund projects in seven breakthrough programs until 2020. But the city alone cannot afford to raise such a huge amount, so capital from domestic private and foreign firms would have to be sought, he said.

The city also said huge private capital would be needed for upgrading 500 old and deteriorating apartment buildings, and developing new housing blocks.

Source: The Saigon Times