HCM CITY — Many solutions were put forth for raising funding for building traffic infrastructure in the Southern Key Economic Region at a conference in Bình Dương Province on Thursday.

Dr Phạm Phú Quốc, member of National Assembly’s Economic Committee, said the Southern Key Economic Region includes the provinces of Bình Phước, Tây Ninh, Bình Dương, Đồng Nai, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, Long An, and Tiền Giang and HCM City.

Its existing technical and social infrastructures do not meet its socio-economic development needs, and so its potential for growth and competition are not maximized, he said.

Since the Government’s finances are limited, looking for other sources of capital is a solution, he said.

Dr Dư Phước Tân, head of the urban management and research division at the HCM City Institute for Development Studies, said the Southern Key Economic Region needs a large amount of fund each year to develop traffic infrastructure.

While the Government allocates funding for this, it is insufficient, he said.

According to statistics from Ministry of Transport, around VNĐ300 trillion (US$12.9 billion) is estimated to be spent on traffic infrastructure in the region, including on inter-provincial streets and waterways only.

Tân said existing policies for financing traffic infrastructure linking the provinces and the city in the Southern Key Economic Region and elsewhere in the country are limited, and the Government should issue more breakthrough policies.                  

Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Minh Kiều of the HCM City Open University suggested that the provinces and HCM City should jointly set up a bank for investment in and development of traffic infrastructure to attract idle gold and dollars held by the public.

It is estimated they are worth around US$30 billion, he said.

According to a report by the Đồng Nai Province People’s Committee, the region contributes more than 40 per cent of the country’s total GDP and 60 per cent of the Government’s revenues every year.

It also attracts more than 50 per cent of the country’s total foreign investment.

A plan for transport development in the Southern Key Economic Region by 2020 envisages building more new expressways such as between Biên Hòa city in Đồng Nai and Vũng Tàu city in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province, between HCM City and Bình Phước Province’s Chơn Thành District passing through Bình Dương Province’s Thủ Dầu Một city, between Long An Province’s Bến Lức District and Đồng Nai’s Long Thành District, and between HCM City and the Mộc Bài international border gate in Tây Ninh Province.

Many other waterway transport projects are set to be added to the plan.

The conference was held by HCM City Open University. — VNS