Works begins on $76.4 mn int’l spanassenger spanort in southern island

Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development JSC, the tourism arm of Vietnam is leading realty conglomerate Vingroup, and Kien Giang Province authorities on Wednesday co-organized a groundbreaking ceremony for Phu Quoc International Passenger Port, a cruise terminal for big ships, on the southern island of Phu Quoc.

The VND1.64 trillion (US$$76.4 million) facility, located on a 180-hectare area in Duong Dong town, will include a passenger terminal and other buildings covering 2.8 hectares onshore and a wharf, a breakwater and other necessary facilities covering 176.5 hectares of water surface.

The port, once completed in 2017, will be able to handle cruise liners carrying 5,000-6,000 visitors and 20,000-tonne cargo ships.

It is predicted that Phu Quoc will welcome from 105,000 to 190,000 visitors a year via cruise ships from now to 2020, and the number could reach 350,000-550,000 in the following decade, according to government website chinhphu.vn.

The project, implemented between 2015 and 2017 under the Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, will be funded by three main sources. While the state budget and the budget of Kien Giang province will cover VND477 billion ($22.2 million) and VND647 billion ($30.1 million), the rest, about VND493 billion ($22.7 billion) will come from the BOT investors.

As one of the major infrastructure projects in the province and in the southern region, the Phu Quoc International Passenger Port is expected to stimulate socio-economic development in the locality and the Mekong Delta in general, especially in the field of tourism, the Vietnam News Agency quoted Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang as saying at the ceremony.

Phu Quoc, also known as Pearl Island, is the largest island in Vietnam and in the Southeast Asian region with a total area of about 590 square kilometers.

It has become well known for its stunning beaches, untouched natural environment, relaxed atmosphere, friendly and easygoing local people, and fantastic scuba diving and snorkeling, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The US National Geographic Magazine has recently been recommended as one of the top three best winter trips in 2014.

Kien Giang now eyes the arrival of 1-1.2 million visitors to the island in 2015, and 2-3 million tourists in 2020, with gross revenue amounting to $771 million by then.

Foreigners and Vietnamese with foreign passports visiting teh island will enjoy exemption for entry, exit, and transit visas up to 30 days instead of the current 15 days following decision signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on some specific policies for Phu Quoc.

The new visa policy will be also applied to foreigners or Vietnamese holding foreign passports who transit at any airport or seaport on their way to Phu Quoc.

With favorable natural conditions, in 2004, the Government decided to develop Phu Quoc into a tourism center of regional and international stature, government website chinhphu.vn says. In May 2013, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung decided to set up Phu Quoc Economic Zone (EZ) which covers the entire area of the island district of Phu Quoc. The 58,900-hectare zone is divided into a non-tariff section, which includes An Thoi Port and Phu Quoc Airport, and a duty section, which covers the remaining areas. Four months later, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approved the Project on developing sea, island and coastal tourism through 2020, under which Phu Quoc was included in Vietnam’s six world-class tourist sites that will be built by then.

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Works begins on $76.4 mn int’l spanassenger spanort in southern island

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