The China Pacific Construction Group, a Chinese firm specializing in infrastructure investment and construction projects, has expressed interest in investing in Vietnam’s North-South Expressway project under the public-private partnership (PPP) format, reported Thanh Nien newspaper.

The China Pacific Construction Group has expressed interest in the North-South Expressway project in the east. In this file photo, vehicles travel on the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, part of the North-South Expressway

On March 7, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong held a meeting with a delegation from the China Pacific Construction Group to further discuss cooperation in the field of traffic infrastructure in Vietnam.

A representative of the group showed interest in the country’s infrastructure projects under the PPP format, including the expressway project in the east.

The group suggested building the expressway under the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and build-transfer-operate (BTO) contracts.

For the EPC contract, the contractor will execute all activities ranging from design and procurement to the construction and handover of the project to its end user or owner.

Under the BTO contract, the investor will be given the right to operate the project within a certain period of time after transferring it to the State.

The head of the Chinese firm said that BTO was positively evaluated and successfully applied in mainland China and may be a complete form of the PPP format to date.

Responding to the proposal, Cong said that the suggested form of investment had to be discussed and studied further.

Earlier, forms of investment suggested for the expressway’s subprojects had been approved by the National Assembly. The Ministry of Transport will invite tenders for the subprojects instead of appointing certain investors, he noted.

SGT