VietNamNet Bridge – The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta has few ports considering the number of river systems there, meaning the transport needs of the country's main rice growing area are not met.

Photo: Internet

Speaking at a conference on Friday on building ports in Soc Trang Province and the delta in general, he said: "Port development is necessary for economic development in the delta which has eight rivers flowing into the sea."

Around 80 per cent of the goods the delta trades with foreign countries go through ports in HCM City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau, overloading the busy road network.

This includes 90 per cent of the country's rice exports and 60 per cent of seafood exports.

Economists estimate that the cost of transporting a container from the delta to ports elsewhere and vice versa is nearly US$200, affecting their competitiveness.

Phan Chanh Duong, a lecturer with the US's Fulbright scholarship programme, said some products like vegetables and seafood had been transported quickly to keep them fresh. So the delta had to develop systems for speedy transport, he said.

"The paddy production and rice exports have increased in the delta. The problem is now transportation."

In future, with greater industrial development in the region, the demand for importing raw materials and fuel and exporting products is bound to increase.

For instance, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, and Kien Giang provinces plan to build several thermal power plants that will use coal imported from Indonesia and Australia.

The coal imports would amount to at least 23 million tonnes a year, Doan Manh Dung, general secretary of the HCM City-based Maritime Science and Technology Association, said, adding that the total volume of cargo coming into and leaving the delta would be around 38 million tonnes a year.

Development plan

The Government has a blueprint for the country's port development through 2020 which estimates ports to handle 2.1 billion tonnes of goods annually by 2020.

A proposed port cluster in the delta, that will include ports in Phu Quoc and other islands, will have a capacity of 132 – 156 million tonnes by 2020.

Several ports are planned to be built here, with every province and city having at least one.

Authorities also plan to dredge the mouth of Tran De River in Soc Trang Province and Dinh An River in Can Tho Province to create the shortest route into the delta.

Bai Xau Port in Soc Trang, a busy trading port that attracted 250 foreign vessels a month as long ago as in the 18th century, will be expanded to again make it an international port.

The port, which was built in 1789, fell into disuse 50 years ago.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News