A container vessel at the Cái Mép-Thị Vải port complex. VNA/VNS Photo

BÀ RỊA - VŨNG TÀU — The Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu People’s Committee has told agencies to speed up work on crucial transport projects to facilitate connections to the Cái Mép-Thị Vải port complex in the province’s Phú Mỹ Town.

The 9.7-km 991B Road from National Highway 51 downstream to the Cái Mép Port is one of the projects.

The 991B Road, with investment capital of VNĐ3.95 trillion (US$170.6 million)  from provincial and central State budgets, is a major traffic route facilitating the transport of cargo to and from the Cái Mép-Thị Vải port complex.

Road 991B is scheduled to be put into operation in 2024.

Another project, the Phước Hòa – Cái Mép road with a length of 4.4 km, is among the key road projects that will improve goods transport to the complex.

The project, with investment capital of VNĐ954 billion ($41.1 million) funded from the provincial State budget, connects National Highway 51 with the inter-port road at the Cái Mép-Thị Vải port complex. It is scheduled to be completed this year.

The committee has also said that site clearance must be completed by the second quarter this year to pave way for construction of Mỹ Xuân – Thị Vải and Long Sơn – Cái Mép roads.

The 2.6-km Mỹ Xuân – Thị Vải road project, with investment capital of VNĐ407 billion ($17.5 million) from the provincial State budget, is scheduled to be completed by 2023, and the 3.7-km Long Sơn – Cái Mép road project by 2025.

The Phước An bridge project, with investment capital of VNĐ4.8 trillion ($207.2 million), is also among the key transport projects. The bridge crossing the Thị Vải River connects the inter-port road at the Cái Mép-Thị Vải port complex with a road leading to Phước An Port in Đồng Nai Province.

The final design for the bridge will be selected by the end of the first quarter this year.

Last year the Cái Mép – Thị Vải port complex handled cargo amounting to 112.8 million tonnes, according to the provincial People’s Committee.

In January the first phase of the Gemalink international port was completed and opened at Cái Mép-Thị Vải, with an annual capacity of 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) in the first phase, raising the port's annual capacity to 8.3 million TEUs.

Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu province aims to develop the port complex into an export and import gateway for the southern key economic region. —VNS