HCMCity (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City has proposed building 10 new inlandcontainer depots to reduce the overload of traffic on roads as well as enhanceconnectivity among roads leading to seaports in the city.

Theroads have been congested for years, according to city authorities.

Thedepots, to be located in the city outskirts to the northeast, east and west ofthe city, will be connected to seaports in HCM City and the southern provinceof Ba Ria-Vung Tau.   

Thedepots would be built at Dong Nam Industrial Park, Tay Bac Industrial Park inthe outlying district of Cu Chi, Sai Gon Hi-tech Park (SHTP) in District 9, andTan Kien Commune in Binh Chanh District, according to authorities.

Thedepots are expected to play an important role in transporting goods between HCMCity and neighbouring provinces.    

TheTransport Department has asked the city administration to adjust the masterplan to build an inland container depot at Dong Nam Industrial Park in Cu Chiuntil 2020 with a vision to 2030.

Thedepot in Cu Chi, covering an area of 10 hectares, would be 11 km from An Ha Bridge,near National Road 22 – Le Loi – Quang Trung – Dang Thuc Vinh roads. It wouldhave a capacity of 150,000TEUs per year by 2020.

LeHoang Minh, deputy director of the Transport Department, said the depot wouldhelp to significantly reduce overloading on National Road 22.   

Underthe proposal sent to the Ministry of Transport, HCM City will build the Tan Kiendepot with an area of 50ha at the meeting point between Vo Van Kiet Avenue andTrung Luong Expressway.

LeThanh Dai, deputy head of the management board of SHTP, said about 800container trucks travel regularly from SHTP to Cat Lai Port in District 2,creating a traffic burden in the area.

Dạisaid the city should build a depot to serve SHTP, which would help reducetraffic congestion and take full advantage of waterways from SHTP to Cat LaiPort via Ong Nhieu canal.

Speakingat a recent meeting with the Transport Department, Le Van Khoa, Vice Chairmanof the city’s People’s Committee, said it was essential to build the depots inDistrict 9 and Cu Chi District, which play a key role in the city’ssocio-economic development.  

Khoaurged the departments of Transport as well as Planning and Architecture, andthe committees of District 9 and Cu Chi District, to carefully study theproject to prevent waste.
Healso asked agencies to call for investment from businesses to build the depots.

HCMCity and its neighbouring provinces have 12 inland container depots, includingTan Cang, Song Than, Bien Hoa, Transimex, Tanamexco-Tay Nam and Sotrans, manyof which are connected with roads but not waterways.

Infrastructurefacilities near ports are almost always overloaded.

Allof these have contributed to raising transport costs, thus reducing thecompetitiveness of the domestic logistics sector.

Thereare 1,300 logistics firms, with more than 60 percent of them in HCM City,mainly operating in shipping and delivering, transport, warehousing, ports,loading and uploading, distribution, customs procedures and integratedlogistics services.

Seventy-twoper cent of local logistics companies are small- or medium-sized, and only 5-7percent of human resources are properly trained.

AVietnam Logistics Association spokesperson said some major seaports areoperating at below capacity due to the lack of road connectivity, but otherswith good road connectivity are overloaded and cannot keep up with increasingdemand from logistics companies.-VNA