The construction of a bridge in Ho Chi Minh City will not affect the passage of large container ships as earlier predicted, the investor has said.
Nguyen Thanh Thai, general director of the Phu My Bridge BOT Joint Stock Company, last week said his company had advised the HCMC People’s Committee, the Vietnam Maritime Administration and other agencies that the bridge construction process would start next month.
Ships will be able to pass the construction site because the site will only occupy half of the width of the Saigon River at a time, he said, adding the status of the project will be updated every hour on the www.bbbh-vn.com website.
Thai said the company had engaged the services of Maritime Safety Company 2 for VND48 billion (US$2.9 million) to maintain traffic flow during the bridge construction.
“I think [the traffic] will not be affected at all,” he said.
However, if Maritime Safety Company 2 failed to create a plan to enable ships of more than 37.7 meters in height to pass the site, these ships will only be restricted for a maximum of three weeks, he said.
Pham Dinh Van, general director of Maritime Safety Company 2, said the company would try to make sure that both the construction of the bridge and the transportation of goods were not delayed.
The company expects to have its plan approved by the HCMC Maritime Administration next week.
If large ships are unable to pass the construction site, they will be assigned to Cat Lai Port, the only port in the city which will not be influenced by the construction, Van said.
Cat Lai Port is now operating at 70 percent capacity.
Earlier this month, the Phu My Bridge BOT Joint Stock Company announced that from September 2008to July 2009, ships with a height of more than 37.7 meters would not be able to pass under the Phu My Bridge.
Although the designed clearance of the bridge is 45 meters above the high tide level, scaffolding would reduce the clearance to 37.7 meters, the company said.
It was predicted that the restriction, if applied, would have had a great impact on the transport of goods as more than 33 percent of ships using HCMC ports are 40-42 meters high.
According to the contractor, the Phu My Bridge project linking districts 2 and 7 cost more than VND2.54 trillion ($153 million).
Upon its completion in July next year, the bridge will become the second largest cable-stayed bridge in the south.
The bridge developer has been granted a build-operate-transfer (BOT) license to operate the bridge, which will be part of a toll road.
Under a BOT model, ownership of an asset reverts to the government after a set period of time.Source: Thanhnien New
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