A state-run Vietnamese company which operates the country’s expressways plans to find private buyers to transfer what it calls ‘megaprojects’ worth billions of U.S. dollars to comply with a government order to restructure its operations.

The Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) is developing its restructuring proposal and solutions to attract investors for five costly expressways, according to general director Mai Tuan Anh.

“If this new policy is successfully enacted, it will reduce the pressure on public spending and help VEC quickly recoup investment to work on other expressway projects,” Anh told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in an interview published Thursday.

Selling the expressway projects means transferring the rights to collect tolls on the roads.

The five expressways VEC wants to sell to private investors include the Cau Gie – Ninh Binh, Noi Bai – Lao Cai, Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay, Da Nang – Quang Ngai, and Ben Luc – Long Thanh, which collectively cover 540km and are worth VND125.572 trillion (roughly $6 billion), Anh elaborated.

The first three projects are mostly likely to find buyers as they are already open to traffic while the others are under construction, he noted.

The state budget accounted for VND71.55 trillion ($3.37 billion), or 57 percent, of the total investment for the five expressways, whereas over VND54 trillion ($2.54 billion) was mobilized from other sources.

“Transferring expressways is a new and unprecedented policy, so it cannot be done overnight,” Anh cautiously underlined.

But VEC could learn from the experience of Cuu Long CIPM – the developer of the Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong expressway, which was transferred to a private investor late last year.

Yen Khanh Co. Ltd. secured the rights to collect tolls on the expressway under a five-year contract taking effect as of the beginning of this year.

The deal is worth VND2.04 trillion ($96.02 million), while the VND9.98 trillion ($469.74 million) expressway, stretching from Ho Chi Minh City to the southern provinces of Long An and Tien Giang, generates around VND1 billion ($47,608) in tolls per day.

Asked if any investor has shown interest in buying the expressways, Anh from the VEC said the company has contacted some popular investors in the industry in Japan, South Korea, the EU, and the US.

“This is a new model of business to us but not to the world,” he said.

“There are already a lot of established companies in this market segment and many of them will be interested when Vietnam opens the door to welcome investors,” he said.

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