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The prime minister of Vietnam has called on Chinese companies to build infrastructure in the country’s two main cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).
Pham Minh Chinh met yesterday with 18 Chinese contractors in Hanoi. The visiting delegation was led by Yan Jiehe, founder and chairman of China Pacific Construction Group (CPCG).
Pham specified a number of projects that Chinese companies may wish to invest in or bid for.
They included the Ngoc Hoi and Tu Lien bridges over the Red River in Hanoi. CPCG is working with the Vingroup conglomerate on feasibility studies for Tu Lien, an 11km-long cable-stayed bridge that will carry the Thai Nguyen expressway.
Pham also dangled a metro or railway to connect Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC with the under-construction Long Thanh International Airport in the province of Dong Nai.
Other projects include the section of Hanoi Metro Line 5 between Van Cao and Lang-Hoa Lac, and cross-border railways linking Vietnam and China.
Pham said cutting logistics costs was important to Vietnamese economic growth.
Vietnam is currently the third-fastest-growing economy in the world, behind India and the Philippines, and ahead of Indonesia and China.
The Chinese delegation expressed a willingness to invest in construction, and said Vietnam had the advantage of numerous free trade agreements and an abundant workforce.
The point about free trade is important in the context of China’s trade war with the US, which is expected to heat up during the second Trump administration.
Singapore is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, but China has been the main source of foreign direct investment in new projects. |
