Regarding the transport sector, Vietnam’s focus is largely on roads, highways, expressways, railways, ports, and airports. With lesser attention, public transportation accounts for less than 10%, failing to meet the government’s target of 25-30% in 2020. Additionally, individuals still prefer private vehicles, especially motorbikes and cars.

The investment gap in the transport sector is about $70.2 billion, including $55 billion for roads, $1.3 billion for airports, $8.1 billion for seaports, and $5.8 billion for railways, according to Arup.

For the energy sector, the sector faces an investment gap of $8.9 billion, due to expansion in energy generation not being matched by the transmission and distribution infrastructure, and progress to meet the net-zero emissions goal 2050 set at COP 26.

In recent years, solar power in Vietnam was prioritized with attractive policies and feed-in-tariffs, while onshore wind power capacity grew significantly, the UK company highlighted. Besides, offshore wind energy is likely to become the key focus area of the clean energy sector given the newly-approved national Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII).

The water supply and waste treatment sector is challenged by an investment gap of $23 billion, according to the report. Arup pointed out a noticeable disparity between qualities in urban and rural areas, with 84.2% of people in urban areas having access to clean water, but only 34.8% for rural area citizens.

The sector is highly reliant on ODA and struggles to attract private financing, it noted. Nevertheless, some policy shifts and concessional financing has opened the door for Vietnam to implement circular economic models, such as a waste-to-energy project in the southern province of Binh Duong funded by the ADB.

Arup noted that Vietnam’s digital sector is well-covered for basic connectivity, with an investment gap of zero. For example, 5G technology is developed and deployed and is about to be licensed for commercial use. The focus now is on data storage, data centers and supporting factors like power reliability.