Cát Lái Port in HCM City’s District 2. VNS File Photo/TTXVN.

HCM CITY -- Developing HCM City into a supplier of high-quality human and technological resources for the logistics industry was the subject of a recent conference held in the city organised by the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade in coordination with the Việt Nam Logistics Research and Development Institute.

Speaking at the event titled “Project for Development of the Logistics Sector in HCM City until 2025, with a vision to 2030”, Hoàng Minh Trí, a former head of the HCM City Institute for Research and Development, said the city should also become a hub for logistics workforce training for the Southern Focal Economic Zone since it has many top universities, hi-tech parks and research laboratories. 

To turn the city into a logistics hub would require a lot of land and a large workforce, which would worsen the congestion plaguing it, he said.

Besides, this was not envisaged in its master plan for economic development approved by the Government in 2010, he pointed out.

The city planned to develop clean industries which do not harm the environment, and use advanced technologies which do not requires a large workforce, he said.

Overloaded infrastructure

HCM City has two major infrastructure facilities, Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport and Cát Lái port, both overstretched.

Tân Sơn Nhất is crowded both inside and outside and any increase in goods transport or logistics services would make these traffic problems even worse, raising transportation costs.

Construction of a flyover to ease traffic outside the airport cost over US$10 million but it would require 10 times that amount to clear the congestion at Cát Lái.

Furthermore, traffic congestion and pollution affect people’s lives and have a negative impact on the efforts to attract foreign investment.

For these reasons, HCM City should be developed into a human resource hub for the Southern Focal Economic Zone, supplying labour for the Cái Mép – Thị Vải Port Complex (in Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province) and preparing to do the same for the proposed Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai Province, Trí said.

Once construction of Beltway Nos 3 and 4 and the Bến Lức – Long Thành – Dầu Giây Highway is completed, goods from the Mekong Delta could be directly transported to Long Thành International Airport and the Cái Mép – Thị Vải Port Complex bypassing HCM City, he added. — VNS