Construction begins on Nghe An port

NGHE AN — Building of the US$491 million Cua Lo deep water port in central Nghe An Province started on Monday.

"It will cover an area of 110ha of land and 700ha of water in Nghi Thiet Commune, Nghi Loc District," said deputy director of the International Transportation Investment Joint Stock Company (ITID), Truong Xuan Tu.

The first phase of the three-phase project will include a wharf for 30,000-tonne vessels and another for 50,000-tonne vessels.

The work is scheduled for completion in 2015.

Four wharves for 30,000-tonne vessels and two for 50,000-tonne vessels will be built during the second phase of construction to 2020.

The last phase, to 2030, will include the building of eight wharves for 30,000-tonne vessels, three for 50,000-tonne vessels and one for 100,000-tonne vessels.

"After the first phase, it is estimated that the port will be able to deal with 3 million tonnes of cargo per year, and that figure will increase to 15-18 million tonnes when the port is fully finished," said Tu.

"This is a key project for Nghe An Province. It will be built with modern and advanced technologies that have been tried and tested in many countries around the world," said provincial People's Committee chairman Phan Dinh Trac.

The project is being jointly invested in by ITID and the Dong Nam Nghe An Economic Zone.

"The main capital for the project is being provided by ITID with the financial assistance of the North Asia Commercial Joint-Stock Bank," said Tu.

Japan Port Consultants Ltd has been selected as the project's consultant.

"The company has already provided consultancy services for a number of port projects in the central region and we have worked with them before with successful results," Tu said.

The deep water port is designed to meet export-import demand and the socio-economic development of Nghe An and other north-central provinces.

It will also be used to tranship goods from Thailand and Laos.

Source: vnagency.com.vn