Committee seeks ways to finance construction of Sai Gon Bridge 2

The HCM City People’s Committee will work with government agencies to find financial sources to recoup investment costs for the Sai Gon Bridge 2 project on Ha Noi Highway.

Construction of the bridge, which is being built to ease the load on the older Sai Gon Bridge, is expected to begin at the end of the year.

Revenue from tolls collected on Ha Noi Highway cannot be used to recover costs since they are being channeled to three other projects, the widening of Dien Bien Phu Street, construction of Rach Chiec Bridge and expansion of Ha Noi Highway.

HCM City Infrastructure Investment Ltd, the investor of these three projects, is recovering its investment capital by collecting tolls on Ha Noi Highway.

Earlier this month, the company denied it had told Phu My Ltd that it would share revenue from the tolls, after PMC told the city’s Transport Department that there had been an agreement between the two companies.

CII said tolls would be collected until 2045 to recoup its VND2.287 trillion (US$120 million) investment in the expansion of the Ha Noi Highway.

Tolls for the other two projects, the widening of Dien Bien Phu Street and construction of Rach Chiec Bridge, will be taken until 2025, according to CII.

PMC is considering different ways of recouping costs for the Sai Gon Bridge 2 project, but only the HCM City People’s Committee is authorised to make the final decision on how to recover the investment capital of VND1,872 trillion ($100 million).

The city’s Transport Department and the bridge’s investor, PMC, have to recover costs because the bridge is being built under the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model, according to Nguyen Thanh Thai, general director of PMC.

The HCM City People’s Committee approved the BOT model because PMC did not have enough money to build under the BT (Build-Transfer) model.

The six-lane Sai Gon Bridge 2 is 1,518 metres long and 23.5 metres wide.

VIETNAMNEWS

Tags: Sai Gon Bridge 2, Vietnam bridges, Vietnam transport