Preliminary Study of BOT Transportation Projects in Vietnam

Transportation sector has contributed positively to the economic and social development of Vietnam over the past decades. This development, however, has had reverse impact when creating new demands and challenges for transportation sector. Transportation strategy and transportation planning of Vietnam show that in the next ten years, on average, each year the state budget will be able to meet just about half of demands for transportation expenditure and investment. So, the remaining half will have to recourse to private sector in which investment through BOT scheme will be one of the most expected channels. A set of six main causes leading to the ineffectiveness and failure of many current BOT transportation projects and seventeen solutions to facilitate the development of BOT transportation projects in Vietnam has been identified through systematic literature review and field investigation. The appropriateness of each cause and the feasibility of each solution were then determined based on expert opinions from academic institutions, state agencies and investors solicited by a structured questionnaire survey. Statistical analyses of the responses to the survey conclude that although there are some certain differences from the viewpoints of three sectors, but in overall, all six causes and seventeen solutions receive agreement from the respondents across these three sectors. Seventeen solutions suggested by this research can be arranged into five groups including: transportation planning; land acquisition; financial capability of concessionaires; management capability of related parties; policy and legal, institutional framework. The output of this research helps Vietnamese government understand the problems associated with current BOT transportation projects and know how to promote this kind of project in Vietnam.