DECISION

APPROVING THE DETAILED MASTER PLAN ON THE SEAPORT GROUP IN NORTHERN CENTRAL VIETNAM (GROUP 2) THROUGH 2020, WITH ORIENTATIONS TOWARD 2030

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

Pursuant to the November 26, 2003 Construction Law; Pursuant to the June 14, 2005 Maritime Code of Vietnam;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 51/2008/ND-CP of April 22, 2008, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 92/2006/ND-CP of September 7, 2006, on elaboration, appraisal, approval and management of socio- economic development master plans, and Decree No. 04/2008/ND-CP of January 11, 2008, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 92/2006/ND-CP;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2190/QD-TTg of December 24, 2009, approving the master plan on development of Vietnam’s seaport system through 2020, with orientations toward 2030;

Pursuant to Report No. 1657/TTr-CHHVN-KHDT of July 27, 2011, of the Vietnam Maritime Administration, and the minutes of the meeting of the Appraisal Council in June 2011, on the detailed master plan on the seaport group in northern Central Vietnam (Group 2) through 2020, with orientations toward 2030;

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DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the detailed master plan on the seaport group in northern Central Vietnam (Group 2) through 2020, with orientations toward 2030, with the following principal contents:

1. Scope of the master plan

Group 2 consists of seaports in coastal provinces in northern Central Vietnam, including Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh. The scope of service of these seaports embraces all these provinces and meets the need of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) for cargo shipping.

2. Development viewpoints and objectives a/ Development viewpoints:

- To develop seaports in a balanced manner and in harmony with the socio- economic development of the region, centered on Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Functions, role and size of each seaport must be rational and in line with the master plan on development of Vietnam’s seaport system through 2020, with orientations toward 2030, the regional transport master plan and local socio-economic development master plans.

- To pay special attention to linking seaports and the national transport network and trade corridors with Laos in order to assure the service function of the group of seaports. To develop general wharves at Nghi Son, Cua Lo and Vung Ang seaports into key major ones to meet short- and medium-range shipping needs and serve as satellite seaports for international gateway and transshipment seaports; Dong Hoi and Son Duong seaports will be special-use ones having general wharves and linked to the East-West corridor axes, contributing to reducing the pressure of the goods flow on the North-South road axis.

- To make intensive investments in unloading equipment and technologies, manage the operation of seaports to assure investment efficiency, exploit existing infrastructure facilities and raise the cargo throughput of seaports.

- To closely combine seaport development with environmental protection, assuring sustainable development as well as security and national defense.

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- General objectives: To develop seaports in northern Central Vietnam (Group 2) in a synchrony and harmony among general wharves and special-use wharves in order to serve the establishment and development of key economic zones, industrial parks and concentrated industrial establishments of the power, mining and petrochemical sectors in the region, such as Nghi Son, Southeast Nghe An and Vung Ang economic zones and Dong Hoi industrial park; and concurrently attract and meet Laos’s cargo shipping need.

- Specific targets:

+ To ensure a port throughput in the planning points of time as follows:

. 68 ÷ 91 million tons/year by 2015;

. 129 ÷ 186 million tons/year by 2020;

. 263 million tons/year by 2030.

+ To attach importance to development of three major seaports of Nghi Son, Cua Lo and Son Duong - Vung Ang, thereby creating a driving force for development of coastal economic zones in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces.

3. Contents of the master plan

a/ Detailed planning of seaports in the group by size, functions and tasks

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+ South Nghi Son wharf area: This area functions as a general and container wharf area, which has special-use wharves and can accommodate ships of between 30,000 - 50,000 DWT. In the first phase, to concentrate on developing general wharves besides existing wharves No. 1 and No. 2, complete building wharves of Nghi Son thermal power plant and transform the shipbuilding factory area into a functional area for port operation and general oil and gas services. This area’s projected cargo throughput will reach around 16 and 22 million tons/year by 2015 and 2020, respectively.

+ North Nghi Son wharf area: This area will be for building special-use wharves of Nghi Son petrochemical refinery and plants and factories in the industrial park, which can accommodate ships of between 30,000 - 50,000 DWT for cargo handling. This area’s projected cargo throughput will reach 8 - 10 and 10 - 15 million tons/year by 2015 and 2020, respectively.

+ Hon Me island area offshore Nghi Son seaport: To develop a transshipment wharf area for large ships of over 100,000 DWT, continue maintaining this area as one for military purposes, mooring and storm- shelter, and step by step form passenger ship landing stages for tourism development when conditions permit.

(Detailed planning parameters of Nghi Son seaport are specified in the Transport Minister’s Decision No. 1401/QD-BGTVT of May 26, 2010).

+ Le Mon, Quang Chau and Quang Nham wharf areas: These areas are local general seaports (class II). These areas’ projected cargo throughput will reach around 0.5 and 1 million tons/year by 2015 and 2020, respectively. These areas will accommodate ships of 1,000 DWT.

- Nghe An seaport: This is a national and regional major general seaport (class I), which consists of South Cua Lo wharf area, North Cua Lo wharf area and Dong Hoi special-use wharf area, specifically as follows:

+ South Cua Lo wharf area: To concentrate on effectively operating the four existing general wharves with shipping channels to accommodate fully loaded ships of 10,000 DWT for handling cargoes. To invest in machinery and equipment to raise their handling capacity; to study investing in new wharves outward for ships of up to 20,000 DWT.

The cargo throughput at this area is projected to reach 2.5 - 3 and over 3 million tons/year by 2015 and 2020, respectively.

+ North Cua Lo wharf area: This is a container and general wharf area for large ships of between 30,000 and 50,000 DWT. The development of wharves in this area will be associated with the development of the Southeast Nghe An economic zone according to needs and investment capacity of this zone.

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+ Dong Hoi wharf area: This is a special-use wharf area for direct import and export of goods for the thermal power project, steel plant and construction material plant in Dong Hoi industrial park of Nghe An province and the vicinities and can accommodate ships of between 30,000 and 50,000 DWT to handle cargoes of a volume suitable to needs and investment capability of Dong Hoi industrial park.

(Detailed planning parameters of Dong Hoi seaport are specified in the Transport Minister’s Decision No. 1401/QD-BGTVT of May 26, 2010).

+ Ben Thuy and Cua Hoi wharf areas: These are local general wharf areas which have special-use wharves and can handle 0.75 and around 1.25 million tons of cargo/year by 2015 and 2020, respectively, and accommodate ships of between 1,000 and 3,000 DWT.

- Son Duong - Vung Ang seaport: This is a national and regional major general seaport (class I), which consists of Vung Ang wharf area and Son Duong wharf area, including:

+ Vung Ang wharf area: This area consists of general and container wharves and has special-use wharves, of which general and container wharves constitute the core of the area and can accommodate ships of up to 50,000 DWT while special-use wharves for thermal power projects can accommodate coal-carrying ships of between 10,000 and 90,000 DWT.

+ Son Duong wharf area: This is a special-use wharf area having general wharves to serve mainly behind-port establishments of such heavy industries as metallurgy, petrochemical refining, mining,… which can accommodate ships of between 100,000 and 350,000 DWT. To form general and container wharves when those in Vung Ang are fully developed. To consider locating a transshipment port for ships of over 100,000 DWT to serve thermal power centers in the region. The cargo throughput at Son Duong - Vung Ang seaport is projected to reach 35 - 37 and 77 - 80 million tons by 2015 and 2020, respectively.

+ Xuan Hai wharf: This is a local general wharf which can handle 0.25 million tons of cargo/year and accommodate ships of between 1,000 and 3,000 DWT.

+ Cua Sot wharf (Thach Khe): This is a potential special-use wharf area to serve the mining industry when necessary.

- Local general wharf areas: These areas will develop mainly on existing infrastructure facilities and intensive investment in human resources and equipment so as to raise operation efficiency.

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b/ Planning of development of seaport access channels

- Access channels of Nghi Son seaport:

. Access channels of South Nghi Son wharf area: From now to 2015, to exploit these channels at their actual capacity, accommodating ships of 30,000 DWT. In subsequent periods, to dredge the channels based on actual development of the seaport.

. To dredge shipping channels for special-use wharf areas in order to assure effective operation of these wharves on the basis of their investment capability.

- Access channels of Cua Lo seaport: Access channels of South Cua Lo general and container wharf area: From now to 2015, to upgrade existing channels for fully loaded ships of 10,000 DWT which can enter or leave the seaport on a high water level. In subsequent periods, to dredge the channels based on actual development of the seaport.

- Access channels of Vung Ang - Son Duong seaport:

. Access channels of Vung Ang wharf area: From now to 2020, to assure this area’s capacity to accommodate fully loaded ships of 40,000 DWT and partially loaded ships of 50,000 DWT which can enter or leave the seaport on a high water level. In subsequent periods, to dredge the channels based on actual development of the seaport.

. To dredge shipping channels of special-use wharf areas in order to assure effective operation of the wharves on the basis of their investment capability.

- Access channels of local general seaports

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c/ Priority projects through 2015

- For channels: To renovate and upgrade shipping channels so that fully loaded ships of 10,000 DWT can enter or leave Cua Lo seaport on a high water level.

- For general wharves:

+ To study investment in building piers for ships of up to 20,000 DWT in South Cua Lo wharf area.

+ To invest in building general wharf No. 3 in Vung Ang for ships of up to 50,000 DWT with capital of seaport enterprises.

- For special-use wharves:

+ To concentrate on building the wharf area of Nghi Son petrochemical refinery, including a crude oil terminal offshore Hon Me island and the wharf area for delivering solid and liquid products of the plant.

+ Wharves to serve thermal power centers in Nghi Son (Thanh Hoa) and Vung Ang (Ha Tinh).

4. Policies, mechanisms and solutions for implementation

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- To concentrate state budget sources on investing in public infrastructure facilities (navigable channels and breakwaters for common use) connected to important seaports. Wharf infrastructure facilities will be largely built with funds lawfully mobilized from enterprises. All infrastructure and port- linking infrastructure facilities of seaport and wharves recommended by investors, including general wharves, will be built with capital raised by these investors themselves.

- To study and permit on a pilot basis foreign partners to invest in loading and unloading equipment and hire other entities to operate port infrastructure facilities invested with domestic capital (associated with transfer of advanced technologies).

- To further step up administrative reform in the management of investment and operation of wharves toward simplicity and compliance with international standards.

- To enhance the state management in the course of implementation of the master plan on development of seaports in the group, paying attention to the master plan’s consistency and harmonious integration with regional transport network development master plans, construction master plans and socio-economic development general plans of localities and territorial areas having seaports.

- To step up the building of wharves and wharf areas for common use in economic zones and industrial parks so as to promote the investment effectiveness and use of natural resources in the coastline for building seaports. To reserve appropriate land areas behind seaports for building goods distribution centers with logistic functions.

- To further step up administrative reform in the management of investment and operation of seaports toward simplicity and modernity; to study and apply on a pilot basis the model of “port management office” at seaports where conditions permit; to facilitate the location of working offices of maritime port authorities and specialized state management agencies in new port areas in order to ensure prompt state management at seaports; and to encourage investors in economic zones and industrial parks to invest in seaport infrastructure and port-linking infrastructure facilities.

Article 2. Management and organization of implementation of the master plan

1. The Vietnam Maritime Administration shall:

- Coordinate with provincial-level People’s Committees and related agencies in publicizing and managing the implementation of the approved master plan;

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- For potential seaports and wharves: Summarize and report on practical needs and proposals of investors and provincial-level People’s Committees to the Ministry of Transport for consideration and decision;

- Annually coordinate with local administrations and related agencies in inspecting the implementation of the master plan, reviewing and proposing measures to handle projects implemented not under the master plan, and reporting them to the Ministry of Transport.

2. Ministries, sectors and provincial-level People’s Committees shall:

- Direct investors in formulating projects to build, renovate and upgrade seaports and navigable channels in line with the approved master plan and in accordance with current regulations on construction investment management.

- Provincial-level People’s Committees shall base themselves on the approved master plan to closely manage and use for proper purposes land areas reserved for building seaports; arrange land areas for synchronous development of seaports and port-linking infrastructure facilities, service areas behind seaports and maritime service areas in order to assure favorable conditions for seaport operation.

- Regarding the updating of wharf areas and wharves not yet specified in this master plan:

+ For wharf areas and wharves for different types of cargoes and built by different investors: Provincial-level People’s Committees shall direct functional agencies in working out and submitting detailed master plans to the Vietnam Maritime Administration for appraisal and reporting to the Ministry of Transport for consideration and approval.

+ For other wharf areas and wharves: Provincial-level People’s Committees shall direct investors or functional agencies in working out and submitting detailed master plans to the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Maritime Administration for study and updating in the detailed master plan on the seaport group, and manage these master plans.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect on the date of its signing.

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MINISTER OF TRANSPORT




Ho Nghia Dung