A view of Hạ Long-Van Don Expressway in Quang Ninh Province (Source: VNA)

QuangNinh (VNA) - The northeastern province of Quang Ninh has decided toinvest in seven major transport projects to promote its socio-economicdevelopment in the period of 2020-2022.

The totalinvestment capital for these projects is expected to be more than 10.5 trillion(452 million USD).

Mosttransport projects are aimed at connecting traffic, promoting the capacity andefficiency of the newly completed Ha Long-Hai Phong and Ha Long-Van Donexpressways.

Projectsare hoped to improve the province’s transport infrastructure system, thuscontributing to the local socio-economic development and promoting localtourism and border- and marine-economic potential.

Particularly,the transport projects connecting Ha Long city with Hoanh Bo district will havethree bridges. The province will firstly invest in the construction of twobridges of Cua Luc 1 and 3.

Cua Luc 1bridge is designed to have a length of 4.2km and Cua Luc 3 bridge with a lengthof 2.4km. The bridges are expected to be completed in 2022.

These twobridges will meet the travel needs of local people, ensuring traffic in therainy season and reducing the overload on Bai Chay bridge in Ha Long city.

Cua Luc 2bridge is expected to be built in the near future with design of movablebridge to serve maritime traffic.

According to Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long, it would take the province 10 years to complete its comprehensive, modern transport infrastructure if it only relied on State allocation and local budget. However, Quang Ninh has made a quantum leap with various measures taken to lure private investment.

Thanks to concerted eff꧒orts to improve the business climate, within three years, the locality secured 36 trillion VND (1.5💃3 billion USD) in transport projects, three quarters of which were mobilised from the private sector. A line-up of investors have come to the province to branch out key transport projects under build-transfer (BT), build-operate-transfer (BOT), and public-private partnership (PPP) contracts.

In addition, the Bach Dang bridge connecting the northern port city of Hai Phong and Quang Ninh was put into operation in early September 2018. It helps shorten the distance from Hanoi to Quang Ninh from 175km to 125km, thus cutting the travel time between the two localities.

Furthermore, the Van Don International Airport, invested at a total cost of nearly 7.5 trillion VND (319💞.47 million USD), has stayed in the limelight of the local infrastructure system. This is the very first airport project in Vietnam to apply the BOT investment model.

Vice Director of the provincial Department of Transport Bui Hong Minh said that the BOT projects have created momentum to develop tourism, enhance trade exchange, while also improving its competitive capacity and bettering the quality of life for local people.

BOT and PPP investment models should be appli🅠ed in a flexible manner and local authorities should create a friendly business environment to make Quang Ninh a more attractive destination to powerful investors./.