The Ministry of Transport raised nearly 90 trillion VND (4.3 billion USD) from private investors to build major transport infrastructure projects in 2011-13, officials have said.

Nguyen Hoang, head of the ministry's Planning and Investment Department, said the projects include expansion of the National Highway N°1 and National Highway N°14.

Private investment has been given under several financial/management models, including build- operate- transfer (BOT), build and transfer (BT) and public private partnership (PPP).

Investment for the BOT projects to expand National Highway N°1 totalled 43.7 trillion VND (2.08 billion USD).

With private investment capital during this period, many transport projects were built according to schedule or completed early, Hoang said.

Capital was raised from many sources, including from non-State sectors, for National Highway N°1 and N°14, according to Dinh La Thang, Minister of Transport. This has helped reduce the burden on the State budget, he said.

Vietnam needs 480 trillion VND (22.86 billion USD) for the 2011-15 period and 730 trillion VND (34.76 billion USD) for 2016-20 to build roads and bridges, according to Resolution 13 NQ/TW issued in January last year.

State funds for the transport sector fell from more than 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 to under 30 percent this year. The Ministry of Transport has created many preferential policies to call on private investment since 2011.

Tran Xuan Sanh, head of the ministry's Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau, said the transport sector should create favourable conditions to attract more private investment, even though it had risen greatly in recent years.

But experts said that was made more difficult because of current policies and regulations about the period to recoup investment capital for investors. They said the transport sector should set a minimum investment level for potential investors interested in projects.

Legal rules related to these kinds of investments have not been clear and lack guiding documents, leaving investors feeling insecure, they said.-VNA