US-based Bechtel Corporation has shown interest in undertaking the Hon Khoai port project. The transport minister has asked Bechtel to consider the project viability as the region already has a port – Duyen Hai – catering to coal traffic. In September 2014, Australia-based N&M Commodities Private Limited worked with the Vietnam Marine Administration to draw up a port investment plan for the project. The plan involved developing 24 piers at the port, with half of them able to handle 250,000 deadweight tonnage vessels supplying coal to thermal power plants in the Mekong delta region. The Australian company had estimated the project cost at $3.5 billion. The project is planned to be commissioned by 2017.
