Developing Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City into a supplier of high-quality human and technological resources for the logistics industry was the subject of a recent conference held in the city organised by the municipal Department of Industry and Trade in coordination with the Vietnam Logistics Research and Development Institute.

Speaking at the event titled Project for Development of the Logistics Sector in Ho Chi Minh City until 2025, with a vision to 2030, Hoang Minh Tri, a former head of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Research and Development, said the city should also become a hub for logistics workforce training for the Southern Focal Economic Zone since it has many top universities, hi-tech parks and research laboratories.

To turn the city into a logistics hub would require a lot of land and a large workforce, which would worsen the congestion plaguing it, he said.

Besides, this was not envisaged in its master plan for economic development approved by the government in 2010, he pointed out.

The city planned to develop clean industries which do not harm the environment, and use advanced technologies which do not require a large workforce, he said.

Overloaded infrastructure

Ho Chi Minh City has two major infrastructure facilities, Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Cat Lai port, both overstretched.

Tan Son Nhat is crowded both inside and outside and any increase in goods transport or logistics services would make these traffic problems even worse, raising transportation costs.

Construction of a flyover to ease traffic outside the airport cost over $10 million but it would require 10 times that amount to clear the congestion at Cat Lai.

Furthermore, traffic congestion and pollution affect people’s lives and have a negative impact on the efforts to attract foreign investment.

For these reasons, Ho Chi Minh City should be developed into a human resource hub for the Southern Focal Economic Zone, supplying labour for the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex (in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province) and preparing to do the same for the proposed Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai province, Tri said.

Once construction of Beltway Nos 3 and 4 and the Ben Luc-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Highway is completed, goods from the Mekong Delta could be directly transported to Long Thanh International Airport and the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex bypassing Ho Chi Minh City, he added.

VIET NAM NEWS