VietNamNet Bridge – A plan to develop water transport as a supplement to the ever-more congested roads of HCM City is progressing well, according to city officials.

One of the major projects is near completion, the Phu Dinh Port at the T-junction of Nuoc Len Arroyo and Cho Dem River in District 8.

The facility is the largest and most modern river port in the city, with 12 quays. Three of them will be used to load containers.

According to Le Van Pha, deputy general director of the project's investor, Sai Gon Transport Mechanical Corporation, the port will be completed and put into use to load goods for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Besides the construction of the port, the city's Department of Transport wants to open several speedboat routes connecting downtown to Thanh Da Peninsula and Nha Be and Can Gio districts.

Tran The Ky, deputy director of the department, said water transport was not as energy-efficient as the road system, but it would reduce congestion on city roads and limit the number of vehicles, which are the major source of air pollution.

The city's People's Committee has given the green light to Thuong Nhat Ltd Company to open "water bus routes".

The two routes will begin at the downtown Bach Dang Wharf. The first 10-km long route will comprise 10 stations along the Sai Gon River and would link districts 2, Binh Thanh and Thu Duc.

The second route, beginning at the newly built Phu Dinh Port, will be 11km long and have seven stations linking districts 5, 6 and 8.

According to the company, there will be 16 boats, with eight of them accommodating 100 passengers each.

The boats are expected to transport a total of 16,000 passengers every day, or six million passengers a year.

The trans-province water transport routes linking HCM City and neighbouring provinces has also been seeing progress, especially after the Ministry of Transport decided to dredge Cho Gao Canal in Tien Giang Province.

When the project is completed, it will help reduce the traffic burden on National Highway No.1A, which links HCM City and Mekong Delta provinces.

According to the city Transport Department's plan to develop water transportation through 2020, 87 routes with a total length of 574km will be created.

Routes are planned to link with Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces, the town of Ha Tien and southeastern provinces including Bien Hoa and Binh Duong.

According to the department, HCM City has 8,000 kilometres of canals and rivers.

Its total water surface is equal to 16 per cent of the city's physical size, a factor that is favourable for exploiting water transportation.

Once the waterway system in HCM City is developed, the tourism industry is expected to see benefits.

Ky said that in two or three years, when the Sai Gon Port and Ba Son Shipbuilding Factory are relocated, Khanh Hoi Port and Nha Rong Wharf will be turned into modern tourism ports.

According to experts, when the waterway transport system is completed and more residents begin to use the routes, about US$1.5 million a day would be realised by the reduction of traffic jams on the city's roads.

The low navigation clearance of many bridges in the city is the primary obstacle in developing a waterway transport system in the city, Ky said.

Of the 230 bridges in the city, some of them have a navigation clearance of only one metre, but a six-metre clearance is needed.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News