The Ministry of Transport has just sent a document to voters in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province about the proposal to soon have a specific plan to maintain, repair, upgrade asphalt and overcome flooding on National Highway 51.

Previously, in a petition to the Ministry of Transport , voters reported and sent pictures of National Highway 51, which is currently in serious disrepair, with many cracks and dents. When it rains heavily, many sections of the route through the area are severely flooded.

One of the reasons given is that after stopping toll collection, BVEC Company did not maintain or repair the road, so the degradation, congestion and overload became more serious.

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National Highway 51 through Phu My town (Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) is often heavily flooded during heavy rains. (Photo: Thanh Phong)

Therefore, voters continue to request the Ministry of Transport to organize inspections and soon have specific plans to maintain, repair, upgrade asphalt and overcome flooding on National Highway 51 to ensure traffic safety. At the same time, there should be drastic solutions soon requiring BVEC Company to liquidate the contract and promptly hand over project assets to establish public ownership.

In response to voters' petitions, the Ministry of Transport said that the investment project to expand National Highway 51, section Km0+900 - Km73+600 in Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces, under the BOT contract form, will not collect tolls from January 13, 2023.

On January 31, 2023, the project enterprise (BVEC) sent a document to the competent authority with the following content: “…BVEC will stop implementing and will not be responsible for ensuring traffic safety, regular maintenance and repair for all items of the project”.

After many times of failing to agree on early termination of the contract through negotiation, on November 17, 2023, the Vietnam Road Administration sent a document to BVEC to terminate the contract early for project management and maintenance.

On that basis, the Ministry of Transport has directed the Vietnam Road Administration to be responsible for managing, preserving and repairing National Highway 51 according to regulations.

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BOT National Highway 51 stopped collecting tolls from January 13, 2023, but to date the stations have not been dismantled. (Photo: Quang Hung)

The Ministry of Transport said that it has approved a road maintenance plan for 2024, including allocating funds for regular maintenance of National Highway 51 (including dredging, clearing sewers, adding paint lines, etc.) and handling black spots and emergency repairs of severely damaged areas to ensure traffic safety with a budget of VND8.3 billion. Currently, the Vietnam Road Administration is completing procedures to implement the construction.

On November 24, 2023, the Ministry decided to establish a team to review some existing contents of the investment project to expand National Highway 51 to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to complete the procedures to establish public ownership of assets according to the law on public assets.