Lack of financial capacity and experience
The Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board (HCMC Traffic Board) recently reported to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on the situation of organizing surveys and evaluating investor interest records for Component Project 1, Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway (Phase I).
According to the report, after 2.5 months from the announcement and receipt of documents, 4 investors and consortiums of investors have submitted documents, including: Cienco4 Group Joint Stock Company (Vietnam), Consortium of Construction Investment Corporation 194 and Lizen Joint Stock Company (Vietnam), Consortium of CRBC-CTG (China Road and Bridge Corporation and Metro Star Investment Joint Stock Company), China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (China).
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has evaluated the dossiers based on the prescribed criteria. The results show that all four investors and the investor consortium did not meet the requirements according to the survey criteria. Specifically, Cienco 4 did not meet the requirements on financial capacity and experience. The consortiums CRBC-CTG, 194 - Lizen and China Harbour Engineering Company Limited all failed because they did not meet the criteria on experience according to current regulations.
The Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project is 51 km long, with a total investment of VND 19,617 billion, invested in the form of public-private partnership (BOT contract). Of which, Component Project 1 (expressway section) will start construction in January 2026 and be completed by the end of 2027.
Proposal to amend criteria to attract investors
According to the pre-qualification invitation documents, there are 2 main groups of criteria, which are also the 2 biggest "barriers" that investors must overcome: financial capacity and experience in implementing equivalent projects.
First is the financial requirement, the investor must arrange a minimum equity capital of VND 1,491 billion (equivalent to 15% of the total project investment, excluding the state capital used for site clearance).
In case of a consortium, the leading investor must own at least 30% of the total equity, the remaining members must contribute at least 15% of the total equity. Each member of the consortium must meet the requirements corresponding to its capital contribution according to the consortium agreement. If any member is assessed as failing, the entire consortium will be assessed as failing to meet the equity requirements.
It can be seen that with a minimum capital requirement of 1,491 billion VND, it is very difficult for a single enterprise to meet the current context. Even if participating in the form of a joint venture, if only one member does not meet the requirements, the entire joint venture will be eliminated.
Regarding experience requirements, investors or joint venture members must have participated in at least 2 projects as equity investors or contractors. The method of determining project experience is divided into 4 types, each type has its own requirements on total investment and value of work participation, in which the lowest level is 2,577 billion VND. In addition, only projects that have been completed on schedule and achieved quality according to the contract are recognized as valid.
Another strict criterion is that investors must prove that they have applied innovative solutions to shorten progress, save energy, and protect the environment in projects.
Since no investor fully meets the above criteria, while the project's commencement date is approaching, to ensure progress, the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department has proposed that the City People's Committee allow the reorganization of the survey process according to the new form issued in Decree 71/2025/ND-CP.
In particular, the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department proposed to adjust the criteria related to the minimum number of projects, project classification and project conversion methods to better suit the reality. The revised criteria aim to attract more investors to participate, while still ensuring the principle of selecting contractors with real capacity.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/kien-nghi-sua-doi-tieu-chi-de-thu-hut-nha-dau-tu-lam-cao-toc-tphcm---moc-bai-d334032.html
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