My Thuy seaport, the opening to the Pacific Ocean

After a period of slow progress due to many difficulties and obstacles, in the first days of the new year 2024, Quang Tri province and investors urgently completed the necessary procedures to implement the construction of My Thuy Port Area Project at the end of March 2024.

My Thuy Port Project Implementation Area - Photo: TT

The large-scale Southeast Quang Tri coastal economic zone is located on the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), along the road running through 13 provinces of 4 countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion, connecting the two oceans, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, with a length of 1,450 km. This is an area with very favorable conditions to form a seaport with the shortest distance, attracting goods from Southern Laos, Northeast Thailand and Northeast Cambodia along the EWEC.

In 2019, the My Thuy Port Project was approved by the Government for investment policy, identified in the planning for the development of Vietnam's seaport system in 2020 with a vision to 2030. The project has a scale of 685 hectares, including 10 wharves in 3 phases. According to the plan and investment divergence, phase 1 from 2018-2025 will complete construction, put into operation 4 wharves, an area of ​​133.67 hectares, by 2031 put into operation 7 wharves and by 2036 10 wharves.

My Thuy port area is a very important traffic project serving the economic and social development of the province and the region, a "gateway" to the East Sea on the East-West Economic Corridor. This is a deep-water seaport, with a very favorable location to act as a transit hub for goods on the East-West Economic Corridor with a scale that ensures 100,000-ton ships to dock.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Hung urged sectors, localities and units to complete procedures to implement the project - Photo: TT

Head of the Provincial Economic Zone Management Board Pham Ngoc Minh said that, up to now, the My Thuy Port Project has completed legal procedures related to deciding on investment policy, approving the feasibility study report, environmental impact assessment report, policy on changing forest use purpose, paying for replacement forest planting, and completing the dossier for exploiting and harvesting planted forest wood.

The first phase of site clearance has approved the compensation and support plan and the people have agreed on an area of ​​124.44/133.67ha (93.1%), the total cost of site clearance paid is 93.088 billion VND. The Board is working hard to coordinate with sectors, localities and units to complete procedures related to the assignment of sea areas, site clearance, land lease, construction permit issuance, exploitation of planted forests, seeking opinions from the Ministry of Transport on dredging water areas, ship turning basins, opinions from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on mineral recovery within the project scope; location for dredged materials.

Basic legal procedures have been completed. The conversion of forest use purposes has been completed. Site clearance is also being carried out, with only a small amount of land remaining to be processed. The investor and units are striving to be able to construct the project by the end of March 2024 as planned.

Regarding the area where the dredged material will be dumped, the Provincial People's Committee has previously assigned relevant units to base on the environmental impact assessment report approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to guide and support the investor in implementation. Accordingly, the temporary site with an area of ​​18.4 hectares located in the My Thuy port project area, which has been identified in the environmental impact assessment dossier, will be used as a transit site for dredged material during the construction of phase 1 of the project.

Infrastructure of Southeast Economic Zone is basically completed - Photo: TT

Units are also assigned to develop a plan to collect and treat dredged sand during construction. At the same time, they are to study and plan the dredging sites for the entire My Thuy Port project and the wharves in the area, in order to ensure the area of ​​waste sites for the construction of the seaport system in the Southeast Economic Zone.

The province also assigned the Department of Construction to review relevant regulations, norms and standards on construction materials to advise the Provincial People's Committee on the plan to use salt-contaminated dredged sand as a filling material for investment projects of enterprises (other than public investment) and public investment projects in accordance with regulations.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Hung stated that currently, the demand for transporting goods on the East-West Economic Corridor through Quang Tri seaport and seaports in the Central region is increasing, especially transporting large quantities of coal from Sekong province (Laos) through Vietnam's border gates has become a very urgent issue.

This is a great opportunity, a driving force to promote investment in construction to complete and put My Thuy Port into operation. In the past time, the province has focused on directing strongly, departments, branches, and localities have actively participated and had the synchronous coordination of MTIP investors to implement investment procedures and site clearance work.

The investor has been determined, set many timelines, committed to completing investment procedures to organize project implementation... so the basic difficulties and obstacles have been resolved, the province has provided maximum support to the investor to implement the project no later than the end of March 2024, determined to have two wharves put into use by the fourth quarter of 2025.

In the near future, when My Thuy deep-water port and a convenient transportation system such as the Trans-Asia railway connecting My Thuy to Lao Bao International Border Gate, National Highway 15D connecting to La Lay International Border Gate and the North-South expressway are formed, the sea transport distance from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean will be shortened.

This is the advantage that helps My Thuy port become an important traffic hub, meeting not only the needs of the Southeast Quang Tri Economic Zone but also has the potential to reach the international level to become a transit center for inter-regional goods and transit goods to countries in the region such as Laos, Northeast Thailand, and Myanmar.

Thanh Truc

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/kinh-te/cang-bien-my-thuy-loi-mo-ra-thai-binh-duong/183948.htm