"Domestic" investors are capable of implementing the Ho Chi Minh City

The first time, even the "foreign" joint venture still failed.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway construction project has a total investment of 19,617 billion VND, invested in the form of PPP (BOT Contract), in which the investor is responsible for arranging 9,943 billion VND, and the state capital participating is 9,674 billion VND (central budget 2,872 billion VND; Ho Chi Minh City budget 6,802 billion VND).

The project is invested in the form of public-private partnership (PPP, BOT contract), with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee as the managing agency and the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment and Project Management Board (Traffic Board) as the investor.

With the construction of a route with a total length of about 51 km according to highway standards (TCVN 5729: 2012), a design speed of 120 km/h, the Project aims to meet transportation needs, reduce traffic load and ensure traffic safety on National Highway 22; complete and put into operation synchronously belt routes with large capacity, traffic safety and high speed on the transport corridor of Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai - Cai Mep Port - Thi Vai associated with the Trans-Asia economic corridor, promoting socio-economic development of the Southeast region in general; creating a driving force for linkage, promoting cooperation and development of the Southeast region with the Mekong Delta, the Central Highlands and the South Central region...

Perspective of Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai highway.

According to the documents we have, for the first time, the Ho Chi Minh City authorities posted the survey documents of investors' interest in the Project on the national bidding network from March 20, 2025 and closed the bidding on May 5, 2025.

By June 2025, the Department of Transport reported to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee that the results of opening the expression of interest (E-HSQT) showed that there were 4 investors and a consortium of investors submitting applications, including: Cienco4 Group Joint Stock Company (Vietnam); Joint venture of Construction Investment Corporation 194 Joint Stock Company and Lizen Joint Stock Company (Vietnam); Joint venture of CRBC-CTG (China Road and Bridge Corporation - Metro Star Investment Joint Stock Company); China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (China).

After conducting the bidding and requesting investors to clarify their experience in implementing the project, on May 27, 2025, the Traffic Department completed the assessment of the investors' capacity and experience. The results showed that no investors met the requirements according to the criteria set out in the survey documents.

Specifically, Cienco 4 did not meet the requirements for financial capacity and experience. The remaining consortiums, including CRBC-CTG, Consortium 194 - Lizen and China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, all failed because the investors' capacity and experience did not meet the requirements.

The form of investor selection depends on the number of interested businesses.

After the first time mentioned above, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance has proposed to amend and supplement the content of the survey of investors' interest in Component Project 1 - investment in the construction of Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway (phase 1) under the public-private partnership method (BOT contract).

Based on this proposal and the opinion of the Traffic Committee, at the end of July, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee approved the amendment and supplementation of a number of contents of Notice No. 455/TB-UBND dated November 6, 2024 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, on surveying investors' interest in the project.

Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway.

In the recent announcement of interest survey, the investor has set out preliminary requirements on the capacity and experience of the investor, including: The minimum equity capital that the investor must arrange is more than VND 1,491 billion. In the case of a consortium, the equity capital of the consortium investor is equal to the total equity capital of the consortium members. At the same time, each consortium member must meet the requirements corresponding to the equity capital contribution according to the consortium agreement. If any member of the consortium is assessed as not meeting the requirements, the investor is assessed as not meeting the equity capital requirements. The leading investor of the consortium must have a minimum capital ownership ratio of 30%, each consortium member must have a minimum ownership ratio of 15% in the consortium.
Regarding experience in implementing similar Projects (for Projects applying BOT, BTO, BOO, BTL, BLT, mixed contract types), the number of Projects in which the investor participates as an investor contributing equity to the Project or as a contractor is 1 Project to meet the minimum requirements determined as follows:
Type 1: Road projects in which the investor participates as an equity investor, has been completed or largely completed within 10 years prior to the year of bidding closing and fully meets the conditions of a total minimum investment of VND 5,211 billion, with the investor contributing capital with a minimum value of VND 746 billion.
Type 2: Investment projects under the PPP method... "within 10 years" fully meet the conditions: have a total minimum investment of VND 5,211 billion, investors have contributed capital with a minimum value of VND 746 billion.
Type 3 and Type 4: Projects, bid packages, contracts in the road sector; Projects, bid packages, contracts in the infrastructure development sector where the investor, acting as a construction contractor "within 10 years", meets the following conditions: Having works and construction items similar to the main works, the main construction items of the project under consideration are grade I road works or higher, with a minimum value of VND 2,577 billion.
For experience in operating and trading construction works, infrastructure systems, etc., investors are required to have at least 1 project that has been in operation "within 10 years" with the following project identification method:

Type 1: Road projects with a minimum capacity of VND 11,925 billion, investors contribute VND 746 billion;

Types 2 and 3: Projects, bidding packages, contracts in the road sector in which the investor is the operating contractor; Projects, bidding packages, contracts in the road sector in which the participating partner is the operating contractor... with a minimum capacity of VND 7,155 billion; at the same level or higher than the level of the project under consideration.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department, the Department is conducting a survey of investors' interest on the national bidding network under the direction of the City People's Committee, with a deadline of September 2025. From September 2025 to December 2025, the bidding will select investors and the contract will be signed in January 2026. The project will start construction in March 2026 and be completed and put into operation in December 2027.

Regarding the bidding form - the issue that businesses are most concerned about, according to the explanation of the Traffic Department, the form of investor selection will be implemented according to the provisions of Article 34 of Decree No. 35/2021/ND-CP.

Specifically, the form of international open bidding with pre-qualification in case there are 6 or more interested investors, of which at least 1 investor established under foreign law registers interest; in case there are less than 6 interested investors, of which at least 1 investor established under foreign law registers interest

Domestic open bidding with prequalification in case there are 6 or more investors established under Vietnamese law registering interest; in case there are less than 6 investors established under Vietnamese law registering interest.

Competitive negotiation is applied in cases where no more than 3 investors meet the requirements for project implementation.

Based on the above regulations, the Traffic Committee believes that the form of investor selection for the Project depends on the number and form of operation of the interested investors. Therefore, based on the results (in progress), the Traffic Committee will evaluate, synthesize and report to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for consideration and approval of the form of investor selection according to regulations as a basis for implementing the following tasks.

There is no category that Vietnamese enterprises cannot meet.

Talking to the press about the capacity of Vietnamese enterprises and the criteria and scale of the Project, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Chung, Chairman of the Vietnam Road Traffic Construction Investors Association, said that domestic investors have grown rapidly and created their brands through specific projects along the North-South expressway such as Deo Ca, Vidifi, Sungoup, Phuong Thanh, Son Hai...

Perspective of Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai highway.

Even domestic investors have successfully invested in complex technical projects such as the Deo Ca tunnel (4,215 m, the second longest after the Hai Van tunnel), viaducts, and river bridges with special technical solutions from foundations, high-pillar structures, and cantilevered reinforced concrete; Expressways through weak soil areas such as the Mekong Delta, or through geological areas with many caves and challenging landslides such as the mountainous regions of the Central and Northern regions.

"That result is a testament to the capacity of domestic investors. Therefore, with the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project, I am sure that there is no special project that Vietnamese investors cannot meet. The issue that needs to be considered is the output of the investor through specific criteria on capacity and experience," said Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Chung.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nha-dau-tu-noi--du-suc-lam-du-an-duong-cao-toc-tphcm---moc-bai-d363112.html