The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has called on the private sector to invest in roads and bridges to ease the terrible congestion on the roads.

It has mobilised investments in road and bridge projects under BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) and BT (Build-Transfer) models. They include the Phu My Bridge, Binh Trieu 2 Bridge, Hanoi Highway , Tan Son Nhat – Binh Loi – Outer Ring Road.

Right now the city has seven BOT and BT projects involving a total investment of 15.9 trillion VND (757 million USD) and is seeking investment of 167.58 trillion VND (7.97 billion USD) in 31 others.

However, it has not proved enough to cope with the congestion on the roads.

Therefore, the Department said, it seeks to create newer investment models that benefit both society and investors.

To do this, the city needs to reform investment policies to attract private funds, it said.

It pledged to work with relevant departments and sectors to tweak investment policies so that investors can save time and problems can be resolved easily and quickly.

It will also continue to work to acquire and clear lands for the projects and spell out compensation norms to safeguard the benefits of all parties.

By 2020 the Department plans to build and upgrade three belt roads, 11 roads running to the city centre, seven highways, four elevated roads, 25 bridges and tunnels through the Sai Gon, Dong Nai, Nha Be, and Long Tau Rivers.

It will also build and upgrade many car parks in the city.

It will move existing ports on the Sai Gon River away from the city centre and build ports at Hiep Phuoc and Cat Lai that can receive large passenger and cargo vessels.

Also by 2020 it hopes to transport 200 million tonnes of cargo per year through international ports in HCM City and 62 million tonnes through domestic ports.

The Department will also focus on developing public transport, starting six metro and three tramway and monorail routes, and upgrading the bus system.

To improve the pubic transport system, it will try to improve the quality of the bus service, attract investment in car parks and bus stations, and encourage people to use public instead of private transport.

It will upgrade Mien Dong (Eastern) Bus Station, Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station, and Cho Lon (Lon Market) Bus Station in the inner city and build inter-provincial bus stations in the suburbs./.