HCMC – Local and international investors have plenty of opportunities to become involved in infrastructure development projects which will bolster the country’s economic development, said participants at a two-day conference in HCMC.

Held by Malaysian network solutions provider Confexhub and Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad) on July 25 and 26, Infrastructure Vietnam 2019 was aimed at accelerating Vietnam’s infrastructure development to ensure sustainable growth.

At the conference, foreign investors had access to various master plans and priority infrastructure projects, and were in talks with local policymakers and authorities.

Tran Ngoc Chinh, chairman of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association, while delivering the conference’s opening remarks, said that infrastructure development is far below the country’s development requirements.

The summit presented itself as an interactive platform for foreign investors to understand Vietnam’s infrastructure planning, and connect with potential partners to meet the rising infrastructure demand and close the infrastructure gap, he said.

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but is facing problems in the quality and quantity of infrastructure, which remains much lower than the country’s needs, according to Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz S.A. Kadir, Chairman of Confexhub Group.

He added, due to this large gap, that Vietnam has numerous planned projects, such as roads, rail routes, bridges, public service infrastructure, urban transport, as well as facilities for ports, airports and special economic zones.

Experts said conventional funding sources, such as the State budget and official development assistance from bilateral and multilateral donors, and government bonds, could only cover 50% of the total cost of infrastructure projects.

Therefore, investors at home and abroad are expected to be involved in infrastructure development through the public-private partnership model.

The Government is making efforts to encourage the foreign private sector to not only invest money, but also contribute specialized technical knowledge for these projects.

Ongoing regulatory reforms and equitization of State-owned enterprises encourage the private sector to maintain and increase their existing level of investment in infrastructure.

The current attraction of foreign investment into Vietnam depends not only on cheap labor, but also infrastructure systems which need to be sufficient enough to lure foreign firms to build factories, said Nguyen Quang Huy, deputy head of the Agency for Southern Affairs under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

At the conference, authorities in HCMC called upon investors to participate in 85 transport infrastructure projects, worth a combined US$41.9 billion.