The 1 billion USD joint-venture project includes an internationalseaport, an industrial zone, an industrial logistics zone and aninternational seaport urban area.
The 2,600 m-longLong An international seaport, 14 km away from the East Sea mouth gate,has been designed to handle ships weighing between 30,000 and 70,000DWT. Its loading and unloading capacity is expected to reach 2.5 milliontonnes a year in 2013 when the first phase is to become commissioned.Its annual capacity is to increase to 9.3 million tonnes by 2015 and 15million tonnes by 2020.
Don Di Lam, ChiefExecutive Officer of VinaCapital, which covers half of theinfrastructure investment, said at the ground-breaking ceremony thatonce completed, the Long An international seaport will connect two majordomestic water ways from the nation’s largest economic hub of HCM City,one to Kien Luong district in the Mekong Delta province of Long An andthe other to the southernmost province of Ca Mau.
The seaport will also help facilitate international transportation in the future, he added.
Dong Tam Group President Vo Quoc Thang said the project is expectedto “wake up Long An still sleeping” by busy Ho Chi Minh City for itsvast area of saline uncultivated land, thus narrowing the huge gap ofdevelopment with the southern economic hub.
TheDong Tam Group chief added that the project has been designed to tap allriver ways in the entire region and open up a shortest route from theMekong Delta to the world, thus offering best prices for exporters andimporters./.