Decision No. 11/2012/QĐ-TTg Approving the Master Plan for Transport Development in the Southern Key Economic Region to 2020 with a Vision to 2030

Pursuant to …;

Approving the Master Plan for Transport Development in the Southern Key Economic Region to 2020 and Orienting to 2030 in the Mekong Delta

__________________________

 

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Considering the proposal of the Ministry of Transport (report No. 4296/TTr-BGTVT dated July 20, 2011) on the Master Plan for Transport Development in the Southern Key Economic Region in the Mekong Delta to 2020 and Orienting to 2030,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approving the Master Plan for Transport Development in the Southern Key Economic Region in the Mekong Delta to 2020 and Orienting to 2030 with the main contents as follows:

I. DEVELOPMENT VIEWS

1. Developing transport in the Southern Key Economic Region in the Mekong Delta in accordance with the national strategy and master plan for transport development and those of relevant localities.

2. Developing transport in the Southern Key Economic Region in the Mekong Delta must be linked with the geographical characteristics of the region to ensure convenient transportation among provinces within the region, with the rest of the country, and internationally.

3. Developing the transport system towards modernization, ensuring synchronous connectivity between different modes of transport, particularly inland waterway transport; prioritizing investment in important and urgent projects that play a breakthrough role in driving economic and social development, ensuring national defense and security, meeting the requirements of being the leading area in the Mekong Delta with Can Tho City as a strategic gateway for sea and air transport, attracting foreign investment and international integration, consolidating national defense and sustainable development.

4. Improving the quality of transport services, reducing traffic accidents, limiting environmental pollution, using energy efficiently; promoting the application of advanced transport technologies, especially multimodal transport and logistics services.

5. Sustainable development of the regional transport network to ensure compatibility and synchronization with the national transport network; focusing on developing rural transport and urban transport networks, particularly in Can Tho City.

6. Closely combining infrastructure investment in transport with irrigation and flood control to adapt and proactively respond effectively to climate change and rising sea levels.

7. Diversifying domestic and foreign investment sources, encouraging all economic sectors to participate in investing in transport infrastructure and transport business operations.

8. Promoting the development of human resources, applying advanced science and technology, and strengthening international cooperation in the development of transport in the region.

9. Allocating reasonable land for the development of transport infrastructure, enhancing safety management along transport corridors; controlling and gradually reducing traffic accidents.

II. DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

1. Objectives by 2020

a) Regarding transport:

Meeting the demand for transport services with increasingly high quality, reasonable prices, ensuring safety and convenience, controlling and gradually reducing traffic accidents and limiting environmental pollution based on organizing transport reasonably and utilizing the advantages of inland waterway transport in the region; gradually developing public transport in cities, multimodal transport, and logistics services. Specific targets are as follows:

The volume of passenger transport will reach 450 to 500 million passengers/year with an average annual growth rate of 5.1%, including the capacity of airports in the region reaching approximately 11.8 million passengers in 2020. Public passenger transport in Can Tho City will achieve a ratio of 10% to 15% of travel demand, and in other cities in the region, it will achieve a ratio of 5% to 10% of travel demand.

The volume of cargo transport will reach about 100 to 110 million tons/year with an average annual growth rate of 8.1%, including the volume of cargo transported through seaports reaching approximately 58.5 million tons/year by 2020.

b) Regarding transport infrastructure:

Upgrading the technical standards of existing national highways; gradually constructing expressways; upgrading the technical standards of provincial roads and opening new necessary routes; continuing to develop rural transport, striving to reach 100% communes with motorable roads to commune centers by 2015, and communes on islands without road bridges must have ferry terminals; 100% district roads and at least 70% commune roads should be paved or cemented; district roads should meet at least Class V standards in plains, and commune roads should meet at least Class VI standards in plains; eliminating all bamboo bridges.

Conducting research and investment in the Ho Chi Minh City - My Tho - Can Tho railway line at an appropriate time.

Developing a synchronized port and channel system; prioritizing investment in major ports in the Can Tho and Phu Quoc areas to meet the transport needs of the region and the Mekong Delta.

Renovating, upgrading, and completing the technical standards of inland waterway transport routes; upgrading and deeply investing in river ports; building passenger boat terminals to serve passenger transport and tourism.

Upgrading existing airports to meet demands in each period; completing the construction and putting into operation the international airport at Duong To, Phu Quoc.

Gradually developing urban transport infrastructure and public passenger transport systems to meet the needs in Can Tho City and other cities in the region.

2. Orientation for Development to 2030

Meeting the transport and transport service needs of society with high quality, international standards, reasonable costs, competitiveness, speed, and safety; facilitating connections between different modes of transport, between provinces and cities in the region, with the rest of the country, and internationally.

Basically completing and modernizing the transport infrastructure network. Continuing to construct other infrastructure projects according to planning.

III. DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

1. Transport Development Planning

a) Forming five main transport corridors:

Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho - Ca Mau Corridor: This is a regional, national, and international corridor; connecting with the national combined seaport; a regional hub. Inland waterway transport mainly handles cargo transport, followed by road transport. Road transport mainly handles passenger transport, followed by inland waterway transport.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Long Xuyen (An Giang) - Rach Gia (Kien Giang) Corridor: is a regional and national corridor. Waterway transport mainly handles cargo transportation, followed by road transport. Road transport mainly handles passenger transportation, followed by inland waterway transport. The Ho Chi Minh City - Ha Tien (Kien Giang) Corridor: is a regional and national corridor. Inland waterway transport mainly handles cargo transportation, followed by road transport. Road transport mainly handles passenger transportation, followed by inland waterway transport.

The Can Tho - Long Xuyen - Chau Doc (An Giang) Corridor: is a regional corridor located within the territory of Can Tho city and An Giang province. Road transport mainly handles cargo and passenger transportation, followed by inland waterway transport.

The Ha Tien - Rach Gia - Ca Mau Corridor: is a regional corridor located within the territory of Kien Giang and Ca Mau provinces. Road transport mainly handles cargo and passenger transportation, followed by inland waterway transport.

b) Planning for the development of main means of transport in the region:

Road: Develop motorized transport vehicles suitable for the road infrastructure, ensuring technical safety standards and environmental protection, appropriate to the type of goods and passenger groups. Gradually limit the increase in the number of motorcycles and control the growth of private cars in urban areas. By 2020, the entire region will have approximately 120,000 to 150,000 motor vehicles of all types, including about 60,000 to 75,000 passenger cars, 24,000 to 30,000 buses, and 36,000 to 45,000 trucks.

Inland waterways: Develop a fleet of transport vessels towards modernization (average age of vessels from 5 to 7 years), with a reasonable structure (tugs and pushers from 30 to 35%; self-propelled vessels from 65 to 70%). By 2020, the total carrying capacity of the cargo vessel fleet in the entire region will reach 2.5 to 3.4 million tons/year; the total passenger carrying capacity of the passenger vessel fleet will reach 250,000 to 300,000 passengers/year.

2. Planning for the development of transportation infrastructure

a) Roads

Expressway axes:

Invest in building the My Thuan - Can Tho expressway: starting point at the southern end of the My Thuan Bridge, ending point connecting to the Can Tho Bridge interchange, approximately 32.3 km long; constructed according to expressway standard type A, consisting of 4 lanes.

Study gradually constructing other expressways in accordance with the overall network planning of expressways approved and financial capability. Specifically:

- Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway: entirely within the region, connecting to the North-South East expressway axis, total length approximately 150 km, scale of 4 lanes.

- North-South West expressway (Ngoc Hoi - Chon Than - Rach Gia section): total length approximately 864 km, section through the region from Vam Cong (An Giang) to Rach Gia (Kien Giang) approximately 72 km, scale of 4 to 6 lanes.

- Chau Doc (An Giang) - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway: total length approximately 200 km, section through the region from Phong Dien (Can Tho) to Chau Doc town (An Giang) approximately 145 km, scale of 4 lanes.

- Ha Tien (Kien Giang) - Rach Gia - Bac Lieu expressway: total length approximately 225 km, section through the region from Ha Tien (Kien Giang) to Go Quao (Kien Giang) approximately 145 km, scale of 4 lanes.

Main national highways:

- National Highway 11: section passing through the region has a total length of 80.9 km (including 12 km in Can Tho city and 68.9 km in Ca Mau province). Standard grade III plain road scale of 2 lanes, some sections with high traffic volume, scale of 4 lanes.

- National Highway 61: section passing through the region is 44.3 km long (in Kien Giang province). Complete upgrading to meet grade III plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes.

- National Highway 63: section from Chau Thanh (Kien Giang) to Ca Mau city, 114.8 km long. Complete upgrading and construction to meet grade III plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes.

- National Highway 80: section passing through the region from Can Tho city to Ha Tien (Kien Giang), 183 km long. Complete upgrading and construction of the entire route to meet minimum grade III plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes.

- National Highway 91: section from Can Tho to Tinh Bien (An Giang), 142.1 km long. Upgrade and renovate the section from Can Tho to Lot Te, 52 km long, to meet grade III plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes.

- National Highway 91B: section from the intersection of National Highway 91 to the intersection of National Highway 1A, within Can Tho city, 15.8 km long. Complete upgrading to meet urban road standard.

- National Highway 91C: from the intersection of National Highway 91 (km117+00) to Long Binh Bridge (An Giang), total length 35.5 km. Upgrade to meet grade IV plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes.

- Route N1: runs along the Vietnam-Cambodia border, section through the region is 106.3 km long (including 65 km in An Giang province and 41.3 km in Kien Giang province). Complete construction and upgrading of the entire route to meet minimum grade IV plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes.

- Ho Chi Minh Road: section passing through the region from Vam Cong (An Giang) to Dam Muoi (Ca Mau), 301 km long. Focus on upgrading and constructing new sections, connecting the entire route with a scale of 2 lanes; construct two bridges Ca Lai and Vam Cong and the connecting section; upgrade the section from Rach Gia (Kien Giang) - Vinh Thuan (Ca Mau) and construct a new section from Nam Can (Ca Mau) - Dam Muoi (Ca Mau). Phase 3, complete the entire route and upgrade the section from Vam Cong (An Giang) - Rach Gia (Kien Giang), 72 km long, according to expressway standard in line with approved planning and financial capability.

- Southern Coastal Corridor Road: from Xa Xia Border Gate (Kien Giang) to Ca Mau city, 220 km long, built to meet grade III plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes, based on upgrading some sections of National Highways 80, 61, 63 and constructing new sections, bypass sections around cities.

- Quan Lo - Phung Hiep Road: section through the region (within Ca Mau province) is 11.5 km long from Lang Tran Canal to the intersection of National Highway 1A, maintaining grade III plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes; after 2020, upgrade to meet expressway standard, scale of 4 lanes.

- South of Hau River Road: section through the region (in Can Tho city) is 9.5 km long, maintaining grade III plain road standard, scale of 2 lanes.

- The Can Tho - Vi Thanh route: from Can Tho city to Vi Thanh (Hau Giang province), with a total length of 47.4 km (the section through Can Tho city is 10.2 km long). Phase 1 meets Class III standards for plains roads, with a scale of two lanes, while Phase 2 expands to four lanes.

b) Railways

Study the construction of the My Tho - Can Tho railway line connecting with the Ho Chi Minh City - My Tho railway line, in accordance with the approved transportation development plan and financial capacity.

c) Sea routes

Seaports:

- Can Tho Port (Can Tho city): a national multi-purpose port and regional hub (Class I). By 2020, its capacity will reach 11.5 to 13.5 million tons/year. It includes functional zones:

+ Cai Cuu Wharf Zone: mainly for general cargo handling for vessels with a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 10,000 to 20,000 tons, including dedicated wharves for river-side industrial service facilities.

+ Hoang Dieu and Binh Thuy Wharf Zone: maintaining the current scale of general cargo wharves; rearranging, renovating, and relocating dedicated wharves; receiving vessels with a DWT up to 10,000 tons.

+ Tran Noc and O Mon Dedicated Wharf Zone: arranging general cargo wharves to support the Hoang Dieu zone, serving industrial parks; receiving vessels with a DWT of 5,000 to 10,000 tons.

- Dedicated coal import ports for thermal power plants: including offshore transfer hubs for vessels with a DWT of 100,000 to 200,000 tons and wharves at power plants for smaller vessels, with a total capacity of 45 million tons/year by 2020. It includes:

+ Eastern Mekong Delta area coal reception hub at the Hau River estuary (in Tra Vinh or Soc Trang provinces).

+ Western Mekong Delta area coal transfer hub at the Nam Du archipelago; plant wharf at Kien Luong (Kien Giang province).

- Potential large vessel ports outside the Hau River estuary: continue studying the construction of ports for large vessels beyond the upgrade and renovation capacity of the river mouth channel. The proposed location is offshore in Soc Trang province to facilitate cargo handling for localities in the Ca Mau peninsula.

- At Phu Quoc: An Thoi and Dam Bay wharf zone for vessels with a DWT of 2,000 to 3,000 tons in the bay and for vessels with a gross registered tonnage (GRT) of 30,000 tons using lighters; Mui Dat Do wharf zone for cruise ships with a GRT of 80,000 to 100,000 tons.

Channel into ports:

- Channels into Can Tho Port and other ports on the Hau River for vessels with a DWT of 10,000 to 20,000 tons (through Quan Chan Bo Canal), and for vessels with a DWT of 3,000 to 5,000 tons (through Dinh An Gate).

d) Inland waterways

Inland waterway ship channels:

- Ho Chi Minh City - Ca Mau route (coastal route): a section of 16 km; reaching Class III technical standards for inland waterways.

- Ho Chi Minh City - Ca Mau route (via Xa No Canal): a section of 167 km; maintaining Class III technical standards for inland waterways.

- Ho Chi Minh City - Kien Luong route (via Lap Vuoc Canal): a section of 130 km; maintaining Class III technical standards for inland waterways.

- Ho Chi Minh City - Kien Luong route (via Dong Thap Muoi Canal): a section of 107 km; reaching Class III technical standards for inland waterways.

- Mo Chau - Ha Tien route: a section of 105 km; upgrading and improving the route to reach Class IV technical standards for inland waterways.

- Cuu Tieu - Cambodian border route: a section of 73 km; maintaining the route at Class I technical standards for inland waterways.

- Hau River route via Dinh An Gate - Tan Chau (An Giang): a section of 107.5 km; maintaining the route at Class I technical standards for inland waterways.

- Rach Gia - Ca Mau route (via Ong Doc River Mouth): 158 km long, upgrading and improving the route to reach Class III technical standards for inland waterways.

- Internal region connection route Quan Lo - Phung Hiep: a section of 12 km; upgrading and improving the route to reach Class IV technical standards for inland waterways.

Inland waterway ports:

Building new and upgrading some river ports, including the ports of Tan Chau, Binh Long (An Giang), Tac Cau (Kien Giang), and Ong Doc River (Ca Mau). Among them, the Tan Chau port handles vessels with a DWT of 500 to 2,000 tons, and also serves as a hub for inland waterway vessels trading with Cambodia.

đ) Air transport

International airport Can Tho: continuing investment in upgrading and expanding passenger facilities to meet Category 4E standards according to ICAO criteria and a military airfield of Category II, capable of handling 5.0 million passengers/year and 400,000 to 500,000 tons of cargo/year.

International airport Phu Quoc: prioritizing the development of the international airport at Duong To to become a tourism and trade center airport for the region and the country, ensuring the operation of Boeing 747 aircraft or equivalent with a capacity of 6 million passengers/year and 300,000 tons of cargo/year.

Airport Ca Mau: upgrading and expanding the existing airport's operational capacity to meet Category 3C standards according to ICAO criteria. The airport's capacity will be 300,000 passengers/year and 1,000 tons of cargo/year.

Airport Rach Gia: upgrading and expanding the existing airport's operational capacity to meet Category 4C standards according to ICAO criteria. The airport's capacity will be 300,000 passengers/year and 2,000 tons of cargo/year.

An Giang Airport: studying and constructing at an appropriate time, meeting Category 3C standards according to ICAO criteria and a Category III military airfield. It is a domestic airport used for taxi flights, general aviation, search and rescue operations, regular commercial flights when there is a market, and shared use in civil and military sectors.

e) Urban and local transportation

Developing urban and local transportation in accordance with the approved planning of the provinces and cities in the region.

Some local road routes with inter-provincial connectivity, where localities cooperate during the construction process to implement the planning (details in the attached appendix).

Deepening investments, upgrading existing inland waterway ports managed by localities to handle vessels with a DWT of 500 to 1,000 tons; building and upgrading some passenger ports to handle vessels with a capacity of 100 to 250 seats.

3. Priority investment projects

Priority investment projects are those aimed at resolving the goal of synchronizing the network infrastructure of transportation systems, serving as a driving force for the development of the key economic region of the Mekong Delta, and requiring investment during the period 2011-2015 (details in the attached appendix).

4. Project land fund for transportation development.

The land fund allocated for the national transport infrastructure system in the key economic region of the Mekong Delta includes: highways, railways, airports, seaports, river ports, stations, terminals... (excluding urban and local transportation) until 2020 is approximately 696.64 km², accounting for about 4.21% of the region's area, an increase of about 0.89% compared to the current situation.

IV. MAJOR SOLUTIONS AND POLICIES

1. Solutions and policies for transportation development

- Create a fair business environment, encourage all economic sectors to participate in transportation and transportation service businesses; innovate means of transport, technology, and transportation service equipment, prioritize container transportation, multimodal transportation, and logistics services to reasonably regulate between different modes of transportation.

- Organize transportation hubs reasonably, closely connecting with transportation corridors linking to the Southern Key Economic Region and the surrounding areas.

- Implement support policies to gradually develop public urban passenger transportation while controlling the increase in individual vehicles.

2. Solutions and policies for transportation infrastructure development

- To fully utilize and enhance the effectiveness of transportation works within the territory, construction and upgrading of transportation works must comply with specialized planning, regional planning, avoiding local parochialism that causes investment waste.

- Strengthen central guidance, cooperation among localities to create breakthroughs in transportation infrastructure investment according to the direction of prioritizing projects with breakthrough characteristics from 2011 to 2015, aiming to create regional connectivity and intermodal transportation connections to maximize the efficiency of the entire system and intermodal transportation.

- Prioritize investment in developing projects with breakthrough characteristics, creating regional connectivity and intermodal transportation connections.

- Leverage internal resources, create favorable conditions to attract investment capital from various economic sectors to construct and upgrade transportation infrastructure in various forms.

- Continue to take advantage of official development assistance funds from countries and international financial organizations (ODA) in diverse forms.

- Provinces and cities should auction land use rights to raise capital for developing transportation infrastructure within their territories.

- Allocate reasonable land funds for developing transportation infrastructure in the short term as well as in the long term.

- Strengthen management and maintenance of traffic infrastructure systems, allocate adequate funds for management and maintenance.

3. Solutions and policies to ensure traffic safety

- Improve the legal system, perfect traffic safety management organizations from the central to local levels towards ensuring traffic order and safety sustainably. Increase decentralization to localities regarding management work, patrol, inspection, and violation handling related to traffic order and safety.

- Enhance and improve the effectiveness of propaganda, dissemination, education combined with enforcement of laws on traffic order and safety.

- Develop transportation infrastructure systems must ensure safe corridors, undergo traffic safety assessments tied to the construction of intersections, stormwater culverts, and black spot treatments along routes.

- Improve the quality of training, examination, and management of vehicle operators; the quality of mechanical vehicle inspections.

- Strengthen rescue and emergency response operations to minimize losses caused by traffic accidents;

4. Solutions and policies for environmental protection

- Complete standards, guidelines, and regulations for environmental protection in the field of transportation. Strengthen propaganda, dissemination, education, and enforcement of environmental protection laws.

- Enhance the quality of monitoring and managing environmental protection in transportation. Conduct environmental assessments from strategic planning, planning, and project stages. Closely monitor the implementation of environmental protection regulations in construction projects and industrial facilities in transportation to minimize negative impacts on the environment.

- Transportation works and vehicles must meet technical standards and quality requirements consistent with environmental protection needs.

Article 2. Implementation

1. The Ministry of Transport shall be responsible for coordinating with relevant ministries, sectors, and provincial people's committees in the region to manage and implement the planning. During the implementation process, timely review and evaluation shall be conducted to adjust and supplement the plan to meet practical requirements.

2. Assign ministries, sectors, provinces, and centrally governed municipalities in the region to review and adjust plans in accordance with the regional transportation development plan, and coordinate with the Ministry of Transport, relevant ministries, sectors, and other localities during the implementation process to ensure the plan is implemented synchronously, creating a continuous and interconnected transportation system to enhance overall network capacity and efficiency.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect from March 30, 2012.

Article 4. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government agencies, and Chairpersons of Provincial People's Committees and Municipal People's Committees directly under the Central Government shall be responsible for enforcing this Decision.