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Agence France Presse reports that Vietnam will invest $500 million in a new military port in the northeastern city of Haiphong, 120 kilometers (74 miles) east of Hanoi. An official at the city’s party committee told AFP that construction will start at the beginning of 2007 after research on its impact on the environment and tourism. The project will need the formal approval of the prime minister, but Vietnam is still ruled by its communist party and so that can safely be treated as a mere formality.
The new Haiphong naval port will cover about 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) and will reportedly be able to receive 40,000-ton warships, which currently only dock at Cam Ranh Bay in southern Vietnam. The construction at Haiphong may be part of a transition, however; the party has said that it wants to use Cam Ranh for civilian national development purposes.