Quang Ninh Province has chosen local investors for the 96-km four-lane Van Don-Mong Cai Expressway project.
The 96-km four-lane highway project that connects Van Don District and Mong Cai City in the north-eastern province is estimated to cost approximately USD800 million. The Export-Import Bank of China has offered a soft loan of USD300 million to finance the project.
Earlier, the Ministry of Transport proposed that the government accept the loan from the Chinese bank but the proposal faced strong opposition from local economic experts and the public. Many people have expressed concerns while pointing out the bad quality and stagnant progress of many Chinese-invested projects in Vietnam including the Cat Linh-Ha Dong flyover project, the Da River Pipeline project in Hanoi, or the Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Plant-Phase 2 project in Thai Nguyen Province.
Quang Ninh Province People's Committee then sent a letter to the prime minister proposing to seek domestic loans for the expressway project and not accept China's bank loan.
In an interview with the VietNamNet Newspaper in early August about their decision, the people’s committee chairman, Nguyen Duc Long, said that the project would play an important role in forming the Van Don Special Economic Zone and so should be carried out carefully and completed on time.
"We've received submissions from several domestic investors who’ve proposed public-private investment partnerships," Long told the VietNamNet. "We’re considering a 70:30 spilt in terms of capital with 70% being sourced from investors and 30% from the provincial budget. I think this is a feasible plan for the four-lane expressway."
At their meeting on November 21, Quang Ninh decided to choose group of investors including Cai Mep, Thai Son, Vinaconex E&C, BRJSC12, Khanh An and Cienco1 as investors in the project.
