HCM City (VNA) – Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh on January 29 attended a ceremony to give the order to handle the first cargo in the Year of the Cat at Tan Cang-Cat Lai port in Ho Chi Minh City.

Over the past 34 years, the port, run bythe Saigon New Port Corporation under the Vietnam People's Navy, has developed from an old military port into a successful trademark bothdomestically and internationally in terms of maritime economy.

The corporation is operating eightcontainer ports, including the three largest and most modern ones in Vietnam,accounting for 55% of the domestic market share. The Tan Cang-Cat Lai is among20 container port clusters with highest production in the world.

Last year, despite many difficulties, thecorporation posted a rise of 5.4% in revenue and 16.2% in profit, while payingover 1.9 trillion VND (80.96 million USD) to the State budget.

Addressing the event, PM Chinh expressed delightat the operational efficiency of the port and its significant contributions to national socio-economic development as well as nationaldefence. He highlighted the role of Tan Cang-Cat Lai port, the largest seaportof Vietnam, which contributes about 18% to HCM City’s total budget collection.

The PM underlined the need to develop modern and efficient transport and logistics sectors, meeting the import-exportdemands of businesses and reducing cost, thus enhancing the competitiveness ofVietnamese goods.

The Government leader asked the Saigon NewPort Corporation to continue to promote its tradition and its key role in deep-waterseaport development in the country, maintaining its position as the pioneer inimplementing the Vietnamese maritime economic development strategy until 2030with a vision to 2045. He pledged that the Government, ministries and sectorswill always accompany with and support the firm and the whole Vietnamesebusiness community in general.

Also on January 29, PM Chinh inspected theconstruction of the Belt Road No.3 in HCM City. The project has a total lengthof 76km, passing HCM City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An provinces. It has a total investment of about 75.37 trillion VND (3.21 billionUSD), sourced from the central and local budget. Construction work on the route started in 2023 andis expected to complete in 2026.

PM Chinh examined some construction sitesof the project and visited the resettlement area for locals who had to relocate to give land for the road at Long Binh-Long Thanh My ward of Thu Duc city.

He asked HCM City and Thu Duc city to promptlycomplete procedures to provide land for resettled residents, and speed up theconstruction of the infrastructure system of resettlement area. He requestedthe city to accelerate ground clearance and ensure that theproject is basically completed and opened for traffic in June 2025./.