The Sài Gòn 2 Bridge which was completed after one year and a half under the build-transfer mode. Since 2000, HCM City agencies have signed contracts for 22 PPP projects worth nearly VNĐ70 trillion ($3 billion), including 16 in the transport sector and three for infrastructure development. Photo cii.com.vn

According to the Department of Planning and Investment, the city requires VNĐ326 trillion (US$14 billion) for the five years from 2016 to 2020, but the city coffers can only provide 50 per cent of that amount, and therefore authorities need to seek non-State sources.

Since 2000, city agencies have signed contracts for 22 PPP projects worth nearly VNĐ70 trillion ($3 billion), including 16 in the transport sector and three for infrastructure development.

The city has plans for another 130 worth nearly VNĐ381 trillion.

Experts said despite great efforts to attract PPP investment the actual mobilisation remains very low compared to the requirement.  

Investment in PPP mode requires competitiveness and transparency, and the projects must ensure benefit to both the city and the private investors, they said.

In the past few years PPP projects have been undertaken in all sectors in Việt Nam, HCM City in particular. This has helped the city develop its infrastructure and create competition between various economic sectors.

But according to figures from the Statistics Bureau, PPP projects only account for 5 per cent of the city’s public investment. The experts said city authorities should change their way of thinking to mobilise capital from this source.

HCM City is a rapidly urbanising mega metro and an emerging economic powerhouse in Southeast Asia and among the country’s most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment, Ousmane Dione, the World Bank’s country chief for Việt Nam, had told an international workshop on public-private partnerships held in HCM City in March.

“To maintain its economic competitiveness and meet the challenges stemming from an ageing demographic, HCM City will require further investment in infrastructure especially in areas like transport, health, education, and the environment.
“Like most cities across the world, public investment alone will not be sufficient to meet the large infrastructure and service delivery needs of HCM City.”

The director of the department, Lê Thị Huỳnh Mai, said measures would be taken to mobilise investment under the PPP mode.

The department would mobilise land and houses for these PPP projects and draw up plans for more PPP projects in the near future, he added. — VNS.