PM approves waterway transport projects

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has released a decision approving waterway infrastructure policies expected to boost the sector's growth.

Domestic waterway transportation plays a vital role in transporting goods and passengers across Vietnam. It creates millions of jobs, but the Ministry of Transport said Government support for the sector remained modest compared with other types of transportation.

PM Dung's decision creates a number of favourable policies in the waterway sector, promoting investment in infrastructure and transportation. One would exempt high-speed passenger waterway vehicles and container waterway vehicles from registration fees.

People's committees will also offer favourable interest rates to investors for waterway transport vehicles with capacities of more than 1,500 tonnes or weighing more than 800 tonnes.

The interest rates will also be expanded to include new waterway vehicles used for transporting passengers to and from areas with economic difficulties or few types of transportation.

Lower fare rates will also be applied to certain groups of people travelling by public waterway transport, including people with disabilities, the elderly and students. Children below 6 can travel in these vehicles for free, under the decision.

The Government will provide free training to waterway transport vehicle drivers in border communes and those with economic difficulties.

Pham Minh Nghia, Chairman of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Transportation Association, said waterway vehicles transported 66 percent of goods and 32 percent of passengers in the Mekong Delta every year.

"Waterway transportation accounts for a considerable amount compared with road transportation," Nghia said. "But investment in road transportation is way more than that in waterway transportation."

He cited that between 2004 and 2014, investment in waterway transportation accounted for only 2 percent of the transport sector.

According to the Vietnam Maritime Administration, the amount of goods transported via sea ports in the Mekong Delta in 2013 was 7.7 million tonnes, while the total amount transported through sea ports across Vietnam was 326 million. About 80 percent of goods are transported to the southwest by road.-VNA