xổ số miền nam走势图Mekong Delta needs more investment in waterway transport infrastructure

Mekong Delta needs more investment in waterway transport infrastructure

MEKONG DELTA — The degradation of the Quan Chánh Bố and Chợ Gạo canals are considered “bottlenecks” for the transportation of agricultural products in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta region, experts said.

Therefore, it is necessary to have policies to invest more in the delta region’s seaports and logistics services, which will promote the export of agricultural products and develop the region's economy.

When agricultural products are exported directly from seaports in the delta, transportation costs will be reduced, and the products can improve their competitiveness.

As the country’s main rice bowl and the source of seafood and fruits, the delta has a river system about  二 八,000km long, so waterway transport plays a key role in the region.

However, the region's inland waterway transport has not yet fully exploited its potential because of the current poor transportation infrastructure and the lack of investment in inland waterways.

Many localities in the region and seaport companies have complained that the Quan Chánh Bố and Chợ Gạo canals are showing signs of serious deterioration.

Hồ Thị Thu Hòa, director of the Việt Nam Logistics Research and Development Institute, said the ports in the delta can be easily connected to the Philippines and Indonesia, but the proportion of the region’s exports through these ports is only  一0- 二0 per cent, while local ports such as Cái Cui Port in Cần Thơ City only handle about  六0- 七0 per cent of their designed capacity.

Container ships have an average deadweight tonnage of  二0,000 tonnes or more, but the Quan Chánh Bố Canal can only serve ships of  五,000 tonnes due to the sedimentation phenomenon, she said.

Inland waterway transport plays a key role but lacks serious investment.

“The delta is just a place for gathering and collecting goods on a very limited scale, though it has many advantages and great potential for developing waterway transport,” she said.

Võ Quốc Thắng, chairman of the Board of Directors of Đồng Tâm Group which manufactures and trades construction materials and interior decoration products, said the delta's road traffic system is overloaded.

Products in the region are transported to HCM City and major deep-water ports mostly by road, resulting in high logistics costs, increased prices of co妹妹odities, and low competitiveness of domestic products.

The region also lacks a smooth traffic connection among industrial zones and clusters, factories and ports, so that businesses often suffer high logistics costs. Consequently, agricultural products for export are forced to be transported via the seaports in HCM City.

Trương Thị Kim Liên, director of Gemadept Joint Stock Company in Cần Thơ City, said about  七0- 七 五 per cent of the region's agricultural products for export must be transported to the ports in HCM City or Cái Mép-Thị Vải port cluster in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province

“That wastes a lot of time and cost, affecting the country’s competitiveness in the global market,” she said.