Vinacomin to build seaport for bauxite transport

The State-owned Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, or Vinacomin, is expected to start construction of a deepwater port by June to primarily serve a bauxite mining project in the Central Highlands.Duong Van Hoa, deputy general director of Vinacomin, said the port project in the south-central province of Binh Thuan had lagged behind schedule as it was still being appraised by the Ministry of Transport.

The project will get off the ground within the first haft of this year, Hoa said.

“Though the project is slower than expected, we plan to complete the first-phase construction of this deepwater port in two years with initial throughput of some three million tons a year,” he told the Daily on Thursday.

He said the total cost of the port at the picturesque Ke Ga Cape was US$700 million, higher than the original estimate and it would take about two years.

According to Vinacomin, the group previously wanted to develop the seaport alongside with its bauxite mining projects in the Central Highlands provinces of Lam Dong and Dak Nong so that the port can be used for aluminum and minerals export.

These mining projects will start churning out products by the end of this year with total annual output of some two million tons.

Site clearance for the port project along a two-km coastline in Tan Thanh Village Ham Thuan Nam District has been facing problems since the province announced in August 2008 to disband 12 resort projects to take back some 28 hectares of land for the 366-hectare port.

The port project has caused huge losses for the resort developers.

Nguyen Duc Hieu, director of Blue World Resort near the cape, told the Daily on Thursday that in 2004 he spent some VND25 billion for building the resort and the resort had been operational since April 2005.

“I’m surprised and disappointed when the provincial government announced to stop the operation of our resort in March 2008 to take the land back for the port construction,” Hieu said.

He said that before the announcement came out, his 31,000-square-meter resort was able to attain revenue of some VND300 million a month. Since March 2008 the province has not taken any action to either compensate for his losses or offer the resort a land swap.

“A total of 12 other resort projects near the Ke Ga Cape are in the same situation. I hope the authorities of the province will pay appropriate compensation for our losses and swap land for us to continue our resort projects,” he added.

According to a document obtained by the Daily on Thursday, some other resort projects that have been suspended include Hai Thanh, Ho Xanh, Da Do, Doi Phong Lan, Duc Hanh and Ngoc Minh.

Regarding compensation for the resort developers, Hoa of Vinacomin said Vinacomin would clinch deals with the resort investors over site clearance compensation as soon as the province allocated land to Vinacomin.

Tags: Vietnam transportation