Da Nang (VNA) –The People’s Committee of the central city of Da Nang has asked the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment to consider the early start of phase 1 of the construction of Lien Chieu port, in order to reduce traffic accidents in the city and boostlocal development.

The Lien Chieu port project is ofimportance for Da Nang in terms of infrastructure, socio-economic development andsecurity-defence, according to Resolution 33-NQ/TW dated October 16, 2003 of the9th Politburo and Conclusion 75-KL/TW dated November 12, 2003 of the9th Politburo.

In November 2016, Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc agreed in principle to the project in Notice 363/TB-VPCP ofthe Government Office following a working session with Da Nang authorities.

Following the approval, Da Nang People’sCommittee conducted a pre-feasibility study for the project and submitted tothe Ministry of Transport, which later submitted its assessment of the study tothe Prime Minister in May this year.

At the end of May, Deputy PrimeMinister Trinh Dinh Dung instructed the Ministry of Planning and Investment evaluatethe possible sources of investment capital for Lien Chieu port, while Da Nangwas told to complete dossiers for the port project based on evaluation ofconcerned ministries and sectors.

Da Nang authorities havecompleted dossiers for the project’s pre-feasibility research report.

Statistics show with the annual growthof throughput at 16.2 percent, Da Nang’s ports will have to handle around 10million tonnes of cargo by 2020 and 30 million tonnes by 2030, which willsurpass the capacity of Tien Sa port after 2020 and overwhelm the transportinfrastructure in the area, causing traffic jams and accidents as well as environmentalpollution, thus affecting the city’s tourism development.

Recently, the traffic flow of trucksand container trucks from Tien Sa port going through the Yet Kieu-Ngo Quyen-NguHanh Son has surged, causing several serious accidents, hence the urgent needfor the early construction of Lien Chieu port.  

According to Chairman of the DaNang People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho, the committee has proposed using thereserve fund for mid-term public investment during 2016-2020 for the project.

Under Da Nang’s project ondeveloping sea-based economy by 2025 with vision to 2030, which aims to buildthe central city into a maritime economic hub with explosive growth incompanion with environment protection and sustainable development, the citywill focus resources on developing maritime transport.

 Accordingly, Tien Sa port will be reserved toserve cruise ships and Lien Chieu is set to become the major cargo port in thecity. More inland container ports (ICDs) will be built to facilitateimport-export activities as well as commodity transportation through theEast-West Economic Corridor that links Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.-VNA