(Chinhphu.vn) – On the afternoon of March 13, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha inspected the Ben Luc – Long Thanh Expressway Project at the intersection with National Highway 50 (Da Phuoc Commune, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City); Long Thanh International Airport (Dong Nai Province); chaired a meeting with ministries, branches and localities to review progress, remove difficulties and obstacles, and speed up two key national transport projects.

Highest sense of responsibility to make up for lost time

The Ben Luc – Long Thanh Expressway is 58 km long, stretching from Ben Luc District (Long An) to Long Thanh District (Dong Nai Province). The route is built according to the standards of a class A expressway, with 4 lanes, 2 emergency lanes, and a design speed of 100 km/h. When completed, the project will be a vital route connecting the Western provinces to the Eastern provinces through connections with the Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay and Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong – My Thuan expressways.

The project is invested by Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) with a total cost of VND31,320 billion, using 3 sources of capital: ADB loan (VND13,654.6 billion), JICA loan (VND11,975.7 billion) and counterpart capital (VND5,689.7 billion). The project includes 11 main construction packages with section 1 west (5 packages A1-A4) using ADB loan; section 2 (3 packages J1-J3) using loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); section 3 east (3 packages A5-A7) using loan from Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The project started in July 2014, some sections used different sources of capital so they could not be implemented at the same time. Since the beginning of 2019, the project has encountered many difficulties in terms of institutions, mechanisms, and legal policies, leading to the lack of capital allocation to continue implementation for the Western ADB capital, JICA capital, and counterpart capital.

As a result, the project is behind schedule, some packages have stopped construction since mid-2019, some contractors have terminated the contract and sued VEC at the International Arbitration Center to request compensation for arising costs. The total volume is currently about 81.66% (VND 11,065 billion/VND 13,741 billion of the total value of the signed contract).

The biggest difficulty for investors at present is the lack of capital to continue implementing some project packages using JICA loans.

Mr. Truong Viet Dong, Chairman of the Board of Members of VEC, proposed to use idle funds that have not yet reached the debt repayment deadline, on the basis of ensuring the enterprise's debt repayment obligations and responsibilities, as counterpart capital to speed up the progress of current bid packages; the plan to restart some bid packages (western section) that have been suspended since June 2019.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Canh, Vice Chairman of the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises, expressed his agreement with VEC's proposal.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized that since 2007, there has been a policy on the Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway project, and in 2010, there were decisions on implementation. However, the suspension of construction of some packages for 3 years and 9 months has objective and subjective reasons, but the responsibility lies largely with the ministries, branches, investors, units and related agencies.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Planning and Investment to coordinate with ministries and branches to urgently submit to the Prime Minister a draft decision approving adjustments to the project implementation policy, taking into account the funding sources of sponsors affecting the project's progress; the mechanism for using VEC's idle capital as counterpart capital and investment capital for the project.

Immediately after that, the Ministry of Transport must complete the necessary procedures so that VEC can bid for the remaining packages in the shortest time.

VEC discussed with technical consultants to shorten construction time, complete Binh Khanh and Phuoc Khanh bridges, and soon operate the entire expressway.

“We must make up for the 3-year, 9-month delay. Ministries and sectors must urgently complete assigned tasks with the highest sense of responsibility,” the Deputy Prime Minister said, emphasizing that “each new path will open up new development space.”

Urgently complete the package of the terminal body of Long Thanh International Airport

Reporting on the progress of the runway and terminal construction packages, the selection of construction supervision consultants, etc., Mr. Vu The Phiet, General Director of Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV), said that the construction packages that have selected contractors have been and are completing the assigned tasks, even ahead of schedule, despite many objective difficulties in terms of weather and especially construction sites.

Items such as infrastructure, auxiliary works, connecting traffic, etc., although delayed, can still be completed in 2025.

“The biggest problem lies in the construction package of the main part of the station because the contractor has not been selected yet, while this is the package that determines the overall progress of the entire project, so the project implementation time may be extended,” said Mr. Vu The Phiet.

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan emphasized the importance of the construction package of the Long Thanh International Airport terminal, which must ensure both quality and progress.

Reporting on the progress of site clearance, Chairman of Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee Cao Tien Dung said that the stages of compensation, payment, and resettlement of households within the airport area have been completed. "The province is committed to completing this work in March 2023 in accordance with the Prime Minister's direction," said Mr. Cao Tien Dung.

Regarding the construction site of the connecting traffic route, Dong Nai province is "racing to speed up" so that people can hand over the entire site in May 2023 for route 1 and June 2023 for route 2.

Dong Nai province leaders also proposed a number of solutions to prevent re-encroachment of cleared land areas, prevent dust pollution from unused land areas, and arrange resettlement for people...

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized that Long Thanh International Airport is a national key project. However, due to objective and subjective reasons, the responsibilities of relevant ministries, branches and units have not been fully clarified, so the implementation progress has not achieved the set goals such as site clearance, bidding for component projects, etc.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested Dong Nai province to complete the site clearance on schedule and thoroughly resolve issues related to site clearance. The Ministry of Planning and Investment must quickly complete the approval of resettlement projects.

The Ministry of Transport, the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises, and ACV must have a comprehensive report on the implementation of the entire Port project, component projects, etc., clarifying objective and subjective causes; specific responsibilities of relevant ministries, branches, and units for current shortcomings, obstacles, and difficulties.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the Ministry of Transport and ACV to urgently have a complete scientific report based on the report of the technical consulting unit on the implementation time of the construction package of the terminal body, to supplement and complete the bidding documents.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Transport coordinate to appraise the bid package estimate, norms, construction unit prices, criteria for selecting contractors based on experience... "This is a project of the century, so contractors with adequate experience and construction capacity must be selected."

The Deputy Prime Minister also gave instructions on the implementation of a number of projects and component packages related to service provision, business, etc.; listened to Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai report on difficulties in the source of roadbed materials for the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project, etc.

Minh Khoi

Theo: https://baochinhphu.vn/khong-de-thu-tuc-lam-cham-tien-do-cac-du-an-giao-thong-trong-diem-10223031318414055.html