Cargo Info Vietnam

Ke Ga Seaport in the offing

Monday, 16 August 2010 16:20

Binh Thuan Province will have a new deepwater port at Ke Ga Cape in Ham Thuan Nam District as the State-owned Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group or Vinacomin is working with a Spanish contractor to launch technical surveys for the port, said an official of Vinacomin.

The three-phase construction project is expected to complete by 2020 and the new seaport will have an annual throughput of some 35 million tons, said Vu Van Long, head of Vinacomin’s Investment Management Board.

The Spanish unit will be chosen to build the port’s three main harbors if they prove to have suitable technologies for the project which match Vinacomin’s planned budget, he said.

Long told the Daily early this week that due to some problems with the selection of consultants, the project could not start in August as announced early this year.

“As recently instructed by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, the group is speeding up preparation work so that the first phase of the port construction can commence late this year,” he said.

He said the deputy prime minister has urged Vinacomin to complete the first-phase of the port construction within two years to reach an initial designed capacity of loading around 3.5 million tons of goods each year.

“Based on the latest estimates of our consultants, total investment capital of the project’s three phases has soared to VND20 trillion or over US$1 billion, much higher compared to original cost estimate at some US$700 million,” he said.

In the first phase, the group will spend about VND4.1 trillion from its own budget on building part of the three-kilometer breakwater, embankments and three main harbors for the group’s export of aluminum and minerals and coal import.

Early this year, another official of Vinacomin had told the Daily that the sea port construction was expected to kick off in the middle of the year. If the construction started at the year-end, it would progress two years slower than scheduled.

Vinacomin planned to carry out the seaport project at the same time with the construction of its aluminum and minerals business in the provinces of Lam Dong and Dak Nong.

According to Vinacomin, the site clearance plan has been completed for the port project. Vinacomin spends around VND400 billion on compensation for affected people.

 

Saigon Times.