Decision 1829/QD-TTg 2021 Master Plan on inland waterway infrastructure facilities in 2021-2030

DECISION

Approving the Master Plan on inland waterway infrastructure facilities for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050^[1]

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government, and the November 22, 2019 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the June 24, 2004 Law on Inland Waterway Navigation, and the June 17, 2014 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Inland Waterway Navigation;

Pursuant to the November 24, 2017 Planning Law;

Pursuant to the November 20, 2018 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of 37 Laws Concerning Planning;

Pursuant to the National Assembly Standing Committee’s Resolution No. 751/2019/UBTVQH14 of August 16, 2019, on interpretation of a number of articles of the Planning Law;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 37/2019/ND-CP of May 7, 2019, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Planning Law and the Government’s Decree No. 56/2019/ND-CP of June 24, 2019, detailing the implementation of a number of transport-related articles of the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of 37 Laws Concerning Planning;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 44/QD-TTg of January 10, 2020, approving the task of formulation of the master plan on inland waterway infrastructure facilities for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050;

At the proposal of the Ministry of Transport and based on Appraisal Report No. 70/BC-HDTDQH of July 14, 2021, of the Appraisal Council for the Master Plan on inland waterway infrastructure facilities for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050,

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the Master Plan on inland waterway infrastructure facilities for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050 (below referred to as the Master Plan), with the following principal contents:

I. VIEWPOINTS AND OBJECTIVES

1. Viewpoints

- Inland waterway infrastructure facilities are regarded as one of the three strategic breakthroughs that need prioritized investment for socio-economic development associated with assurance of national defense and security, adaptation to climate change, and sustainable development.

- To develop inland waterway infrastructure facilities on the basis of bringing into fullest play potential and advantages of each region and step by step making them synchronous and modern so as to ensure navigation safety; to promote advantages of inland waterway transport as the mass, medium-distance and low-cost freight transport mode; to efficiently connect inland waterway transport with other transport modes and inland waterway infrastructure facilities with local and international transport infrastructure systems.

- To develop inland waterway infrastructure facilities along waterway transport corridors and fairways on the basis of taking the best advantage of natural conditions in association with investment in renovating and upgrading infrastructure facilities according to reasonable roadmaps, thus contributing to reducing logistics costs and improving competitiveness of the economy; to invest in inland waterway infrastructure facilities in a selective and focused manner, especially in the regions with great potential and advantages, such as the Red River delta, Southeastern region and Mekong River delta.

- To mobilize all resources, particularly non-budget sources, for investment in inland waterway infrastructure facilities; to use state resources first of all for investing in public inland waterway fairways and routes and non-budget sources for investment in infrastructure facilities of special-use inland waterway ports, landing stages and fairways; to continue bringing into play and improving institutions on delegation of powers to localities for mobilizing resources for and organizing the implementation of the Master Plan.

- To take the initiative in getting access to and intensify the application of scientific and technological advances, particularly achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, to the construction, management and operation of inland waterway infrastructure facilities, with a view to mitigating environmental pollution, conserving energy and efficiently using natural resources.

2. Objectives

a/ Objectives through 2030

To develop complete and gradually modern inland waterway infrastructure facilities, thereby improving service quality, meeting socio-economic development demands and helping turn Vietnam basically into a developing country with modern industry and upper middle income, with a number of specific targets as follows:

- Regarding transportation: The volume of freight transported by inland waterways will reach 715 million tons; the number of passenger arrivals transported by inland waterways will reach 397 million; the volume of freight traffic by inland waterways will reach around 150 billion tons.km; the number of passenger traffic by inland waterways will reach around 7.7 billion passengers.km.

- Regarding infrastructure: To renovate and upgrade the main routes with heavy traffic, ensuring round-the-clock navigation in all fairways and routes; to strive for the target that the total length of routes in synchronous operation according to their technical grades will reach around 5,000km; to develop the system of inland waterway ports and landing stages to meet the freight and passenger transport demands along all waterway transport corridors; to step by step modernize main and special-use ports; to canalize river sections running through major cities and transform inland waterway ports into those for cargo loading/unloading to suit the urbanization process; to modernize information technology infrastructure to serve the management and operation of inland waterway infrastructure facilities.

b/ Vision toward 2050

To complete modern, synchronous and safe inland waterway infrastructure facilities capable of providing high-quality transport services, thus significantly contributing to reducing logistics costs, and becoming one of transport modes that make large market shares of freight transport.

II. THE MASTER PLAN ON INLAND WATERWAY INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES THROUGH 2030

1. Waterway transport corridors

To plan 9 waterway transport corridors, including: one coastal corridor from Quang Ninh province to Kien Giang province (the Central Coast belonging to the coastal corridor), 4 northern corridors (Quang Ninh-Hai Phong-Hanoi, Quang Ninh-Hai Phong-Ninh Binh, Hanoi-Nam Dinh-Ninh Binh, and Hanoi-Viet Tri-Lao Cai), and 4 southern corridors (Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho-Ca Mau, Ho Chi Minh City-An Giang-Kien Giang, Ba Ria Vung Tau-Tay Ninh-Ho Chi Minh City, and waterway transport corridor running through Tien and Hau rivers to Cambodia). On these corridors, there will be main waterway transport routes and a number of tributary waterway transport routes.

a/ The coastal waterway transport corridor from Quang Ninh province to Kien Giang province

The corridor’s freight volume will reach 62.5-70 million tons; the corridor will meet transport demands of the coastal provinces and cities and localities that have river-sea waterway transport routes, of which the central provinces from Thanh Hoa province to Binh Thuan province will have 11 main waterway transport routes and other rivers exploitable for waterway transport directly connected to the corridor, with a freight volume of 15-18 million tons.

b/ The waterway transport corridor of Quang Ninh-Hai Phong-Hanoi: Its freight volume will reach 93-100 million tons.  

c/ The waterway transport corridor of Quang Ninh-Hai Phong-Ninh Binh: Its freight volume will reach 60-65 million tons.  

d/ The waterway transport corridor of Hanoi-Nam Dinh-Ninh Binh: Its freight volume will reach 21.5-22.6 million tons.  

dd/ The waterway transport corridor of Hanoi-Viet Tri-Lao Cai: Its freight volume will reach 27.8-30.1 million tons.  

e/ The waterway transport corridor of Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho-Ca Mau: Its freight volume will reach 99-105 million tons.  

g/ The waterway transport corridor of Ho Chi Minh City-An Giang-Kien Giang: Its freight volume will reach 55.2-58.5 million tons.  

h/ The waterway transport corridor of Ba Ria-Vung Tau-Ho Chi Minh City-Tay Ninh: Its freight volume will reach 31.5-35.5 million tons.  

i/ The waterway transport corridor running through Tien and Hau rivers to Cambodia: Its freight volume will reach 12.7-15.3 million tons.  

2. Main inland waterway transport routes

To plan 55 main inland waterway transport routes on 140 rivers and canals with a total length of around 7,300km (of which around 5,000km will be synchronously operated according to their technical grades), including 18 main routes on 49 rivers and canals in the North with a total length of around 3,028km; 11 main routes on 28 rivers and canals in Central Vietnam with a total length of around 1,229km; and 26 main routes on 63 rivers and canals in the South with a total length of around 3,043km; and to invest in completely building inland waterway infrastructure facilities on these routes.

(Details of main inland waterway transport routes and their technical grades are provided in Appendices I and II).

3. Inland waterway ports

a/ Planning of port clusters

- To plan 54 freight port clusters with a total capacity of around 361 million tons, including 25 port clusters in the North with a total capacity of around 199 million tons, 8 port clusters in Central Vietnam with a total capacity of around 9 million tons, and 21 port clusters in the South with a total capacity of around 153 million tons.

- To plan 39 main passenger port clusters with a total capacity of around 53.4 million passenger arrivals, including 10 port clusters in the North with a total capacity of around 10.9 million passenger arrivals, 14 port clusters in Central Vietnam with a total capacity of around 2.5 million passenger arrivals, and 15 port clusters in the South with a total capacity of around 40 million passenger arrivals.

(Details of main freight port clusters and main passenger port clusters are provided in Appendices III and IV).

b/ Detailed planning of inland waterway ports

Each freight or passenger port cluster consists of main inland waterway ports and satellite inland waterway ports. Ship sizes planned for inland waterway ports are those synchronized according to technical grades planned for waterway routes and fairways. In the course of implementation of the Master Plan, depending on conditions of fairway infrastructure and parameters of vessels, competent state management agencies shall decide on ship sizes for safe and efficient operation.

Special-use ports shall be planned to develop based on transport demands to directly serve, and in line with master plans on economic zones, industrial parks, and plants manufacturing, building and repairing vehicles or vessels, or agro-forestry-fishery processing plants.

(Details of freight ports are provided in Appendix V).

III. ORIENTATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL INLAND WATERWAYS

1. Master plans on local inland waterways shall be implemented under plans on development of provincial transport networks in provincial-level master plans as specified at Point d, Clause 2, Article 27 of the Planning Law.

2. Master plans on inland waterway ports and landing stages on local waterway routes and inland waterway passenger ports, special-use ports and landing stages on national waterway routes stated in provincial-level master plans shall be developed in line with provincial-level spatial development master plans, ensuring uniformity, synchronism and conformity with the Master Plan. To limit the development and work out schedules to relocate inland waterway landing stages for freight loading/unloading greatly affecting urban traffic in inner city areas. To step by step upgrade inland waterway landing stages that fully satisfy law-specified conditions and are conformable with master plans into inland waterway ports. To give priority to master plans on development of inland waterway ports in order to take the best advantage of natural conditions to serve waterway transport in remote and deep-lying areas.

IV. LAND AND WATER SURFACE USE DEMANDS THROUGH 2030

The total land use demand will be around 5,908ha, including around 2,899ha in the North, around 296ha in Central Vietnam, and around 2,713ha in the South. The total water surface demand will be around 8,765ha, including around 4,120ha in the North, around 405ha in Central Vietnam, and around 4,240ha in the South.

V. INVESTMENT CAPITAL DEMAND

The demand for inland waterway infrastructure investment capital for the 2021-2030 period will be around VND 157,533 billion (excluding funds for investment in special-use fairways and ports).

VI. PROJECTS IN WHICH INVESTMENT IS PRIORITIZED

- To invest in renovating and upgrading fairways and increasing clearance of bridges on main transport routes up to synchronous technical standards; to give priority to the Red River delta, Southeastern region and Mekong River delta.

- To invest in inland waterway ports on main transport routes to meet the socio-economic development demand.

VII. SOLUTIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE MASTER PLAN

1. Solutions regarding mechanisms and policies

- Improving mechanisms and policies to promote investment in, and manage and operate, inland waterway infrastructure facilities and inland waterway transport eligible for application of investment incentives and tax and charge incentives.

- Stepping up the delegation and decentralization of powers to units and localities.

- Improving the legal framework to promote the development of operation of river-sea compatible ships (VR-SB) on coastal transport routes.

2. Solutions to raise investment capital

- Prioritizing state budget funds for investment in public inland waterway infrastructure facilities in important transport routes.

- Intensifying the mobilization of non-budget sources for investment in and development of inland waterway infrastructure facilities, particularly those of inland waterway ports.

3. Solutions regarding environmental protection, science and technology

- Constructing inland waterway infrastructure facilities according to climate change and sea level rise scenarios; controlling, preventing and mitigating environmental pollution.

- Encouraging and promoting the use of clean energy in inland waterway transport activities and applying new technologies in investment in, and management and maintenance of, inland waterway infrastructure facilities.

- Intensifying the application of information technology in the management and operation of inland waterway infrastructure facilities and management of inland waterway transport activities; stepping up the organization and completion of the digitalization of specialized databases.

4. Human resource development solutions 

- Studying and diversifying training forms and applying special mechanisms for training and quality improvement of human resources and attraction of high-quality human resources.

- Increasing joint-training forms with domestic and international institutions and countries with developed inland waterway systems.

5. International cooperation solutions

- Intensifying international cooperation to raise cross-border inland waterway transport capacity; creating the most favorable conditions and reducing to the utmost the time volume required for performance of licensing, customs and border guard procedures on cross-border waterway transport routes.

- Improving legal institutions and policies to be consistent with regulations of international organizations, treaties and international agreements to which Vietnam is a contracting party.

- Expanding international cooperation, especially with countries having experience in investment in, management and operation of inland waterway systems, thereby step by step approaching the modern inland waterway development trend.

6. Solutions regarding organization and supervision of implementation of the Master Plan

- Publicizing the Master Plan; realizing close coordination among ministries, sectors and localities in the course of implementation of the Master Plan, ensuring uniformity and synchrony.

- Regularly holding specialized seminars and dialogues between planning management agencies and enterprises; enhancing examination and supervision; promoting the role of the people, enterprises, socio-political organizations and the community in supervising the implementation of the Master Plan.

- Intensifying public communication to improve the awareness about observance of regulations on planning, investment, construction, management and operation of inland waterway infrastructure facilities and transport safety assurance.

Article 2. Organization of implementation

1. The Ministry of Transport shall:

- Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with other ministries, sectors and provincial-level People’s Committees in, organizing and managing the implementation of the Master Plan; organize regular evaluation, review and modification of the Master Plan to suit socio-economic development situation in each period under regulations (when necessary); and publicize the Master Plan in accordance with the Planning Law.

- Provide information on the Master Plan to the information system and national database on planning under regulations.

- Organize the formulation of plans, and propose necessary solutions to implement the Master Plan in a synchronous, feasible and efficient manner.  

- Review and revise the Government’s Decree No. 08/2021/ND-CP of January 28, 2021, on the management of inland waterway navigation activities, to suit practical conditions and meet development demands; report to and propose the Prime Minister to approve conversion of qualified waterway routes into local fairways.

- Coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning and Investment in allocating annual state budget funds for implementation of the Master Plan.

2. Ministries and sectors shall, within the ambit of their functions, tasks and powers, coordinate with the Ministry of Transport and provincial-level People’s Committees in allocating resources and proposing mechanisms and policies for achieving targets of the Master Plan, ensuring consistency and synchrony with the implementation of the 2021-2030 socio-economic development strategy and socio-economic development plans of sectors and localities.

3. Provincial-level People’s Committees shall:

- People’s Committees shall, within the ambit of their tasks and powers, organize the state management of inland waterway transport in their localities under relevant regulations in their localities; strictly manage land areas reserved for implementation of the Master Plan.

- Review and revise or formulate master plans and projects in their localities in consistency and conformity with the Master Plan; update contents of their provincial-level master plans based on orientations for local transport development under the Master Plan.

- Mobilize resources for building roads connected to inland waterway ports.

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

Article 4. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall implement this Decision.-

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
LE VAN THANH

* The appendices to this Decision are not translated.