HCM City needs $1bil each year for roads

A conference on infrastructure development held by the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre on Thursday was told that the city plans to upgrade stretches of six national highways passing through its territory including No.1A and IK, and to speed up construction of seven regional speedways, four urban highways and the city’s belt-lines by 2025.

Six metro routes with a combined length of 107km and three urban railroad routes with a total of 35km need to be completed in the same period, the conference was told.

Deputy chairman of HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Trung Tin remarked that: "Roads are being developed by two per cent while the number of vehicles grows by 10 per cent per year, leading to the overload on HCM City’s infrastructure facilities."

Six more water supply projects and 10 wastewater treatment plants will be also completed by 2025, the conference heard.

All these projects in HCM City require a total investment of $15 billion. Duong Hong Thanh, deputy director of the city’s Department of Transport and Public Works, said these infrastructure projects could apply different forms of investment – BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer), BO (Build-Operate) or land-infrastructure exchange.

"What is most important is that the investment forms should help attract capital from local and foreign companies into these projects," he said.

Specific investment forms suitable for each infrastructure development project will be identified, Thanh added.