In a statement issued by the Government Office last month, the Prime Minister asked the ministries of finance and planning-investment to use 2010’s budget or proceeds from government bond sales to provide funding for the general department of defense industry to move the shipyard.
The premises of the current shipyard will be put up for auction and the proceeds from this auction will be used to make refunds for the Government, according to the statement. The Prime Minister also asked the Ministry of Defense to direct the shipyard to implement the relocation plan.
At a meeting organized last December by the Steering Committee for Planning and Relocating Ports along the Saigon River and the Ba Son Shipyard out of downtown HCMC, deputy transport minister Tran Doan Tho said the relocation of ports had been slow while the deadline was 2010.
However, at the meeting, representatives of Saigon River ports and the Ba Son Shipyard said their relocations might not meet the deadlines due to a lack of money. Ba Son said it would need more capital to build its new site in Phu My 2 Industrial Zone in Tan Thanh District in neighboring Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. Construction of the new facility started in 2006.
So far, only New Port has moved to District 2’s Cat Lai. The Ba Son Shipyard and Saigon, Tan Thuan Dong and Rau Qua (vegetable) ports are having difficulties seeking capital for relocation.
By the end of last year, HCMC approved a master plan to develop the premises of the shipyard into a complex comprising financial center, commercial quarter, hotels and service facilities, residential area, and square.
According to a plan prepared by the transport ministry, all of the city’s inner-city ports, including Ba Son, will be shut down between end-2008 and early 2009, a move which is aimed at improving the city’s landscape and easing the worsening traffic conditions. (SGT)
Catalogues>> Business
