HCMC has completed a list of wharfs, piers and stations on the city’s river tour routes with relevant authorities set to announce the details including the location and the scale of every project tomorrow to seek investors.
As per the list jointly prepared by the municipal Department of Transport and the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, these wharfs, piers and stations are located in districts such as 1, 8, 9, Cu Chi and Can Gio. Multiple tourism areas are in operation now but the city wants to improve the service and make more investments to develop the river tour segment as a key tourism product.
The list also includes a project at Lo Gom Wharf in District 6, a number of stations in Can Gio, and others at Phu Xuan Wharf in Nha Be, Binh Dong Wharf near the Cha Va Bridge in District 8 and Cau Mong Wharf in District 4. These schemes will be invested by State capital from now until 2015.
Besides, 19 other projects will also be carried out by local enterprises with the same schedule.
Among the major projects to be invested by companies is one to construct Bach Dang Wharf into a large-scale tourism port. When complete in 2015, the port will be able to handle ships of 900 seats each and will be active as the central wharf for river tours. The Bach Dang Park, meanwhile, will be turned into a venue where events of the river tour segment are organized. The Bach Dang Wharf project has been assigned to Saigontourist Holding Company for deployment and the enterprise is working on the site clearance to make room for the project.
The city’s government in 2012 entrusted Saigontourist as the major company for river tour development and it has introduced seven river tours departing from Bach Dang Wharf to tourist attractions in the Mekong Delta, District 9, Binh Quoi and Can Gio as of June this year. A few tourism companies have already sold these services as scheduled tours.
However, as Bach Dang Wharf is still in the process of becoming a tourism port, three scheduled tours to Binh Quoi, East-West Highway and the District 9 Ornamental Garden by boat or canoe of the Binh Quoi Tourism Area have been suspended. Similarly, river tours to the Crescent Mall in Phu My Hung new urban area in District 7 have also been suspended as the wharf is still under construction.