Inland waterway infrastructure facilities will be able to get access to ODA and foreign concessional loans for development, thereby conveniently connecting with other modes of transportation, particularly the country’s seaport system.
Such is one of the incentive mechanisms and policies set forth in Prime Minister Decision 21/2022/QD-TTg dated November 9, which aims at promoting investment in inland waterway transport development in Vietnam.
Under the new rule, investment capital will be allocated for repairing and upgrading inland waterways along major transport routes under the master plan on inland waterway infrastructure for the 2021-30 period, with a vision toward 2050.
In addition, provincial-level People’s Committees are requested to review and include in their local master plans the building of river-crossing passenger terminals in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions for development or investment in other modes of transportation.
Worthy of note, economic non-business funds will be allocated for maintenance of inland waterway infrastructure facilities under approved plans and based on resource mobilization capacity.
The Decision also puts a focus on intensifying the application of information technology in inland waterway transport activities. In light of this, state budget funds reserved for investment and development will be used for implementing information technology application projects in the inland waterway sector while current expenditures will be used for management, operation and maintenance of the information technology system (databases, software and hardware) serving post-investment activities.
As assigned in the new regulation, the Ministry of Transport will be responsible for organizing the implementation of this Decision, and carry out annual and five-year evaluation of implementation results, while provincial-level People’s Committees will arrange land and water surface areas for investment projects on building and repair of inland waterway vessels, and building of inland waterway ports under their local land use plans.- (VLLF)
