Dong was responding to a question raised by the Daily about foreign investors’ chances of joining PPP projects after he spoke to some 120 representatives of foreign and local companies at a business luncheon on Vietnam’s foreign direct investment (FDI) trends and policies in the next five years in the city on Thursday.

“PPP projects will be open to both domestic and foreign investors in the private sector,” Dong said, clarifying PPP was now in the process of pilot implementation in accordance with the Prime Minister’s Decision 71 issued last year.

The objective was to generate one more channel for Vietnam to attract investment capital from both domestic and foreign investors, Dong said. This goal was shared by Italian Trade commissioner in Vietnam Marco Saladini who said PPP was an effective way to shoulder the responsibility and the cost of building complex projects.

Saladini told the Daily after the luncheon that the PPP schemes would bring about more effective results since the owner and the contractor were more involved in the subsequent stages of the project - and they would manage to finish work on time to minimize costs.

Dong said the Prime Minister’s decision identified that the pilot PPP projects would cover important infrastructure and economic areas, including roads, bridges, airports, ports, energy, water supply and drainage.

The vice minister said he was in the city to work with the HCMC government to identify one or two projects to be carried out on a pilot basis as PPP was new in Vietnam. “PPP is effective if it is implemented correctly. Failure of the first PPP projects will undermine investors’ interest and make these initiatives unattractive,” Dong said.

Therefore, Dong said a careful approach would be taken to ensure that the pilot PPP projects would be fruitful to create a positive message for investors and the financial market.

PPP opportunities were of great interest to foreign companies and organizations at the luncheon organized by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). Dong received a number of questions about this topic at the Q-and-A session of the event.

Saladini said authorities were determined to build a framework of rules and a first batch of pilot projects under the PPP form. He added that private investors were looking with more confidence at such opportunities and starting to place them on their radar.

“Based on the success of several promotional programs we have carried out so far, I am confident in saying that the interest is very high, not only among Vietnamese investors but also among Italian ones,” Saladini said.

Tim Brownbill, British consul general in HCMC and director of the UK Trade and Investment in Vietnam, held the same view. He told the Daily that the interest of British investors in PPP projects in Vietnam was high but there needed to be clearer guidelines to secure their investment in this market.

Dong acknowledged transparency was one of the most important supporting factors for the success of PPP projects as without this investors were not confident enough to participate. “The bidding process for PPP projects will be clear and investors will have to compete for this,” Dong said.

Source: Saigontimes.