Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The mega infrastructure projectNorth-South Expressway has started inviting domestic enterprises to apply forbidding, a month after the Ministry of Transport ruled foreign companiesineligible to participate in the project.
Phung Tuan Son, head of the Economy and Planning Division ofthe Thang Long Project Management Board which oversees the expressway's PhanThiet-Dau Giay road section, told media on October 21 that seven investors hadexpressed interest in the sub-project.
The Thang Long Management Board, along with other sevenmanagement boards in charge of the eight sub-projects of the expressway, beganselling bid application forms to interested investors on October 17.
Deputy Director of the Ministry of Transport’s Public-PrivatePartnership Department Nguyen Viet Huy said the expressway had attractedseveral Vietnamese firms looking to participate in the projects.
The Project Management Board No 2, for example, managed tosell four application forms to potential investors of the section of NationalHighway 45-Nghi Son in less than four hours since the sale opened, Huy told themedia.
The Project Management Board No 6, which oversees the NghiSon-Dien Chau and Dien Chau-Bai Vọo sections, said each project already hadfour application forms sold in the first day of sales.
“The selling of application forms will last for a month,ending on November 11, and it’s expected there will be more investorsinterested in the projects,” he added.
The Ministry of Transport in late September reversed itsdecision to allow foreign companies to participate in bidding for eight subprojects and restricted bidding to Vietnamese enterprises.
The ministry explained the move aimed to "bring out thedomestic strength", adding that it also took into account security andnational defence when organising the bids.
Huy said the ministry had to loosen some of its criteria toattract more Vietnamese companies to bid.
Potential investors which were partly foreign-owned companieswere still allowed to take part, Huy said, under the condition that thepercentage of the companies’ shares under foreign ownership doesn't exceed 51percent.
The rule was designed to widen the investor pool as manyVietnamese companies were already listed and had their shares bought by foreignentities, he added.
After receiving all the applications, the ministry would holdthe first round of selecting investors in February next year, and another roundof bidding application is expected in April, Huy said.
“If everything goes smooth, the bidding work to chooseinvestors can wrap up in November 2020.”
Huy, however, remained cautious whether Vietnamese companieshad the ability to pull off the project.
“If we can’t pick investors, the Ministry of Transport willreport to the Government and the National Assembly to switch the investmentmodel (from public-private partnership, or PPP) to public investment,” he said.
The expressway has a total of 11 sub-projects for investment.Of which, three are under public investment while eight are up for the PPPmodel. The transport ministry has estimated the cost for all projects at 118trillion VND (5.1 billion USD)./.
Foreign investors interested in North-South Expressway project
Many investors from the Republic of Korea, Japan and China are looking to join the North-South Expressway project, according to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang.