Supporting Vietnam’s pathway towards low carbon transport
IN BRIEF
Aus4Transport, the transport infrastructure partnership between the Ministry of Transport (MOT) of Vietnam and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), is proud to announce the commencement of a new activity that will once again support Vietnam’s efforts towards sustainable economic growth.
As part of the AUD30 million grant allocated through the Aus4Transport Program, the Government of Australia will be investing USD 580,000 to update the Feasibility Study (FS) and the Environmental and Social Assessment Instruments (ESAI) of the Southern Region Waterways and Transport Logistic Corridors (SWLC) Project.
The Program will be providing technical expertise to fulfill the pre-financing requirements, and ensure that both, the engineering and non-engineering components of the project, are comprehensively addressed for further development in the following stages of the project.
KNOW MORE…
The impressive economic growth and social development that has taken place in Vietnam in the last three decades had a cornerstone in infrastructure investment. The development of a strong transport network across Vietnam has made possible an extraordinary yearly growth rate by allowing improved movement of people and goods and providing access to essential services, such as healthcare or education, bringing new economic opportunities. At the same time, this remarkable economic growth has put Vietnam’s transport network under quite a lot of pressure as the country tries to cope with rapidly increasing freight and passenger demand while addressing the challenge of reducing greenhouse emissions. In conclusion, there is an urgent need for the transport system in Vietnam to adapt and become more cost-efficient and climate-smart.
One of the strategies currently used to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions involves shifting freight transport from higher-emitting transport modes, such as road, to cleaner ones, such as rail or inland waterways. With its natural advantages, Vietnam has a well-developed inland waterways transport network, which accounts for 20% of the total freight transportation, but, unfortunately, only receives about 1-2% of the total transport investment budget. To continue supporting Vietnam’s efforts to become a greener economy, and in line with the Government’s strategic priority of developing the key economic zone of the Mekong Delta, Aus4Transport is joining to support the Southern Region Waterways and Transport Logistic Corridors (SWLC) Project.
The SWLC is a USD243 million project co-funded by the World Bank and the Government of Vietnam that will upgrade selected sections of two inland waterway corridors in the Mekong Delta network responding to the growing transport needs of the area by increasing capacity and efficiency of waterways, reducing logistics costs and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. The upgrade of the East-West Waterway Logistics corridor will improve connectivity between the economic hub at Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta, and the Ho Chi Minh City – Cai Mep -Thi Vai import and export deep seaports. On the other side, the upgrade of the North-South Waterway Logistics Corridor will link the same seaport of Cai Mep -Thi Vai to the industrial area of Dong Nai.
Works will focus on improving navigability and upgrading the waterways to accommodate larger vessels, which will be a step further in promoting multi-modal transport and boosting economic growth in the Mekong Delta. The project will allow the waterway infrastructure to better match supply and demand, remove congestion bottlenecks, and improve the resiliency and safety of the network.
