Goldman Sachs, OPIC eye highway upgrade project
By Le Anh - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Goldman Sachs and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) have worked with the Ministry of Transport to discuss the financial arrangements for the National Highway 20 upgrade project, an official said.
Nguyen Ngoc Toan, director of BT 20 Co., told the Daily that in the meeting with the transport ministry last week, both sides mentioned the financial arrangements for the project. Although no agreement was signed between two sides, the project has attracted the attention of these international financial institutions, he added.
“Currently, only one package of the upgrade project is being carried out in Lam Dong Province, and we will begin two other packages next month. Meanwhile, Dong Nai Province is accelerating the site clearance progress to hand over the site for contractors,” Toan said.
The upgrade project constructed under the build-transfer (BT) format aims to serve the transportation of bauxite from the plant in Lam Dong to Go Dau Port in Dong Nai Province.
The National Highway 20 upgrade project was kicked off late last year and divided into two components. With the first component worth VND4.467 trillion, 123 kilometers of the highway starting from Dau Giay Intersection in Dong Nai Province to Provincial Road 725 in Lam Dong Province will be upgraded and completed in late 2014.
Meanwhile, the second upgrade component worth VND3.058 trillion will start from Provincial Road 725 to National Highway 27.
The upgrade project’s consortium includes Cuu Long Corporation for Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (Cuu Long CIPM), Western Mekong Co. Ltd, Petroleum Construction Joint Stock Co. No.1 and Building Materials Corp. No.1.