Relocation of HCM ports delayed

been stalled due to the delay in infrastructure construction at the

proposed destinations as well as a lack of funds, port management officials say. The city was to move four ports – Sai Gon, Sai Gon New, Vegetable Terminal and Tan Thuan Dong, as well as the Ba Son Shipyard by the end of this year in

the initial phase of a plan to remove the port system out of inner HCM City. But only one of them, the Sai Gon New Port, is about to complete its move from Binh Thanh District to Cat Lai.

According to Sai Gon Port Authority, the removal of other ports would be delayed by at least two years because the construction of wharves in the proposed destination in Nha Be District's Hiep Phuoc Port has not been completed.

The first 200 meter wharf for the Sai Gon Port will be put into use in September and another 600 meter wharf in 2012; while other proposed wharves with a total length of 1000 meters have not even completed the site clearance process.

Relocation of the Tan Thuan Dong Port in District 7 will take even longer, about 3-4 years, as its management needs to mobilize much more capital to afford the high cost of leasing land in the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park.

The city has not allocated land for moving the Vegetable Terminal Port and its management has not prepared any plan for it.

The relocation of Ba Son Shipyard is awaiting capital from the new investors to meet real estate costs for transferring the land.

Shipyard authorities said they were also waiting for approval from the HCM City People's Committee of plans submitted for new developments in the vacated area.