Increasing passenger transport capacity across Cat Ba island
According to the resolution to adjust and supplement (repeat 13.) the city's medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021 - 2025 of the Hai Phong City People's Council, 5 projects have been supplemented with medium-term public investment capital. In particular, the city has a target of adding from the city budget to Cat Hai district (now Cat Hai special zone) to implement the investment project to build, renovate and expand Dong Bai ferry terminal, Cai Vieng ferry terminal and auxiliary works of 96.054 billion VND.
The reason is that Cat Ba archipelago plays an important role in the tourism development strategy of Hai Phong city in particular, the coastal areas of the North and Vietnam in general. Meanwhile, the infrastructure conditions of the two ferry terminals are still limited, leading to frequent congestion, negatively affecting the image of Cat Ba tourism.
The investment in the construction and renovation of the ferry terminal is to increase the capacity to transport vehicles and passengers on the Dong Bai - Cai Vieng ferry route, meet the travel needs of people and tourists when visiting and researching Cat Ba island, contribute to economic development, create jobs for local people, promote the value of the World Natural Heritage Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba archipelago.
The project will start construction in early 2025 on an area of over 13,000 m2, including main items: expanding the road up and down the ferry with an average width of 12 m, expanding the ferry terminal area to nearly 1,300 m2, dredging about 15,000 m2 to clear the channel with a depth of about 1.5 m. The investor also renovated the waiting room with an area of 325 m2, building a new toilet with an area of about 140 m2. The consortium of contractors includes Tan Loc - Bach Dang - Chan Nam - Duc Phuc - 18 units.
Progress reaches over 75%
To date, according to the contractor consortium representative, the project has reached about 75% of the workload. The construction of the Cai Vieng and Dong Bai ferry terminal expansion project has encountered many difficulties due to the increase in the number of passengers and vehicles traveling through Cat Ba since the beginning of the summer. The construction of the ferry terminal expansion depends on the tide, and can only be constructed when the tide is low.
According to the contract, the project will be completed in September 2025. With the current progress, it is expected that by the end of July, the construction unit will complete the items of expanding the roads up and down to the ferry terminal and strive to complete the remaining items in August.
Also according to the representative of the contractor consortium, the city recently agreed to adjust the Investment Project for construction, renovation, and expansion of Dong Bai ferry terminal, Cai Vieng ferry terminal and auxiliary works. In particular, increasing investment capital by more than 10 billion VND and adding items such as: building a transformer station on the Dong Bai ferry terminal side, dredging deeper into the ferry terminal area to facilitate ferries to dock, building official housing for Border Guard and Traffic Police forces.
Currently, the contractor consortium is waiting for detailed instructions from the authorities to arrange human resources, equipment, and raw materials to soon complete additional items, bringing the project to the finish line on schedule.
