Focus on investing in synchronous and modern transport infrastructure to promote economic development.

Comrade TRAN HUU HUNG, Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Transport of Quang Tri province answered the interview

- Dear comrade! It can be affirmed that investment in technical infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure, is an important solution to create a breakthrough, move forward, and promote socio -economic development of Quang Tri province. Could you please tell us more about the outstanding results in the efforts to invest in synchronous and gradually modern transport infrastructure that have been deployed in the province in recent times?

- Infrastructure in general and transport infrastructure in particular are the physical foundation that plays a particularly important role in the socio-economic development of the country in general and Quang Tri province in particular. Therefore, in recent years, the Central Government, the Government, the Ministry of Transport and Quang Tri province have always paid attention to prioritizing increasing investment capital from the budget, focusing on mobilizing social resources (investment under PPP...) to build a synchronous and gradually modern transport infrastructure.

Focus on investing in synchronous and modern transport infrastructure to promote socio-economic development of Quang Tri province.

The road connecting Dong Ha city with the eastern communes of Trieu Phong district is being built in a modern manner, meeting the people's travel and trade needs. - Photo: D.T

In recent years, many forms of capital mobilization have been approved and supported by the Government to invest in the construction of transport infrastructure, typically the first projects in Quang Tri province invested in the form of BOT (Component Project 2 - Construction of Quang Tri Airport), calling for investment (construction of My Thuy Port Area) with a total investment of several thousand billion VND.

Entering the period of economic innovation, especially in recent times, the rapid development and increasing improvement in the quality of transport infrastructure has better satisfied the needs of travel and transport of goods of society in the province. Transport is the organic combination of infrastructure, means and transport service organization. In which, infrastructure plays an important role and needs to be one step ahead.

The 17th Quang Tri Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, has identified priority for building infrastructure systems, completing a number of key, dynamic projects with spillover effects, promoting the province's socio-economic development, especially important traffic works, connecting economic zones, industrial parks, international border gates to exploit potentials and advantages to strive for Quang Tri to become a province with a development level in the upper-middle group of the country by 2025.

When it was first re-established, the entire province had only 750.9 km of roads, including: 262 km of national highways (National Highway 1 through the province is 75 km long, National Highway 9 is 84 km long, National Highway 14 is 60 km long, National Highway 15 is 43 km long); 130.5 km of provincial roads with 8 routes and 358.4 km of district roads, there are still 15 communes without car roads to the center...

Up to now, the road traffic system in the whole province has reached more than 8,739 km. All communes have car roads connecting to the district center. In the past time, with the support of the Government and central ministries and branches, the attention of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Council, the close direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the support and assistance of the Ministry of Transport, the Vietnam Road Administration, the Inland Waterways Administration, the traffic infrastructure has been invested with many different capital sources, so the national and provincial highway systems have been asphalted (the only remaining provincial road DT.587 is currently being gradually asphalted to serve the travel needs of the people); the system of weak bridges and temporary bridges has been basically invested in upgrading and newly built.

Some major bridge projects were built such as: Cua Viet, Cua Tung, Hien Luong, Thach Han, Dai Loc, An Mo, Thanh Co, Trieu Phuoc, Lai Phuoc, Song Hieu, Cam Hieu, Dakrong suspension bridge, La La bridge, Hieu river suspension bridge...; besides, some strategic routes were newly built, such as Cam Lo - La Son highway; Dong Ha city bypass, Quang Tri town; the axis road along the Southeast Economic Zone, the road connecting Ho Chi Minh road, East branch with Ho Chi Minh road, West branch...

In particular, in the past 5 years, the seaport system has been continuously expanded; Cua Viet port with an area of 42,000 m2, a 7,200 m2 cargo yard, 2 Czech frame warehouses with an area of 900 m2; there are 3 wharves 228 m long, of which 2 wharves 64 m long/wharf are managed by Cua Viet Port One Member Co., Ltd.; 1 general wharf 100 m long invested and exploited by Hop Thinh One Member Co., Ltd.; the designed channel depth of 5.6 m ensures the entry and exit of ships of 3,000 - 5,000 tons.

At Nam Cua Viet port area, investor CFG Quang Tri Company Limited has been approved to invest in 4 wharves (2 phases) on an area of 18.75 hectares. My Thuy port area has been approved by the Prime Minister for investment and construction in Decision No. 16/QD-TTg dated January 4, 2019 and the investor - My Thuy International Port Joint Venture Joint Stock Company has basically completed the procedures to start construction in March 2024.

Quang Tri Airport was identified by the Prime Minister in the Plan for the development of aviation transport until 2020 and orientation to 2030 and the Ministry of Transport approved the plan with the function of a domestic airport, an airport for shared civil and military use. Currently, the procedures for construction are being completed.

In addition, the province's key and driving projects are accelerating their implementation progress, such as: Coastal road project connecting the East-West Economic Corridor (phase 1), Eastern bypass of Dong Ha city, Road connecting Ho Chi Minh road, East branch with Ho Chi Minh road, West branch; projects being implemented, completing procedures for investment and construction: Cam Lo - Lao Bao expressway project, Investment in construction of National Highway 15D, Western bypass of National Highway 1...

In addition, the transport sector focuses on maintaining the structure of the transport system throughout the province, ensuring convenient and safe operation, meeting the travel conditions of the people and smooth transportation of goods.

- To carry out the function of going ahead and paving the way for development orientation, could you please tell us how the transport infrastructure will be built and expanded in the coming time to better serve the socio-economic development goals of the province?

- In order to successfully implement the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025 and the 5-year socio-economic plan 2020 - 2025; in recent years and especially in 2024 - an important pivotal year, the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, Provincial People's Committee and the transport sector will focus and resolutely direct and operate to speed up the progress of transport projects, strengthen management, maintenance and repair of infrastructure.

Especially key and dynamic projects/works in the province such as starting construction of Quang Tri Airport, My Thuy Port Area, speeding up the progress of site clearance and implementing the construction of the Coastal Road connecting the East-West Economic Corridor (phase 1); completing investment preparation procedures for the Cam Lo - Lao Bao Expressway Project, building National Highway 15D under the PPP method...

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Transport will direct and urge localities to promptly complete site clearance to speed up construction progress and complete projects: Dong Ha city's Eastern bypass (both sections), the road connecting Ho Chi Minh road, East branch, with Ho Chi Minh road, West branch, and important traffic projects in the province; actively coordinate with the Ministry of Transport and related units to promptly complete the Van Ninh - Cam Lo expressway, promptly complete procedures, and deploy the completion of National Highway 9, section from Cua Viet port to National Highway 1.

The key traffic projects and works, the driving force that is gradually being formed, will be extremely important, contributing to the successful implementation of the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, gradually completing the infrastructure system, creating spillover, connecting economic zones, industrial parks, international border gates, promoting the socio-economic development of the province and the implementation status to date is as follows:

The investment project to build My Thuy Port Area has been approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 16/QD-TTg dated January 4, 2019 with a scale of 685 hectares, including 10 wharves developed in 3 phases (Phase 1 from 2018-2025: 4 wharves, Phase 2 from 2026-2031: 3 wharves and Phase 3 from 2032-2036: 3 wharves); total project investment capital: 14,234 billion VND. Up to now, the project has basically completed the procedures and is expected to start construction of phase 1 on March 25, 2024.

Quang Tri Airport Project was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 648/QD-TTg and approved the project investment policy under the PPP method in Decision No. 2148/QD-TTg with the scale of a level 4C civil airport and a level II military airport; area of 316.6 hectares; including 2 components: Component project 1 - Site clearance is invested in the form of public investment with a total amount of 233,103 billion VND; Component project 2: construction of Quang Tri Airport is invested in the form of PPP with a total investment of 5,821,073 billion VND.

Component project 1: Currently, Gio Linh District People's Committee is actively implementing, expected to complete the handover of about 136 hectares for construction in May 2024; striving to hand over the entire clean site for the project (total 265 hectares) by the end of 2024.

The Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee has organized the selection and approved the results of the investor selection in Decision No. 2879/QD-UBND dated November 29, 2023, the winning investor is the Joint Venture of T&T Transport Infrastructure Investment and Development Company Limited - CIENCO4 Group Joint Stock Company. Currently, the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board (the agency signing the contract) is coordinating with the investor to complete the signing of the BOT contract and deploy the following tasks.

The coastal road project connecting the East-West Economic Corridor was approved for investment in Resolution No. 40/NQHDND dated May 12, 2021; the Technical Research Report was approved in Decisions No. 4282/QDUBND dated December 17, 2021 and No. 832/QDUBND dated March 18, 2022; the total investment in phase 1 is VND 2,060 billion; the implementation period is from 2021 to 2026.

The investment scale of phase 1 is 48 km; of which the section from the border of Quang Binh province to the North of Cua Viet bridge is 36 km long (the section through Cua Tung bridge and Cua Viet bridge has not been invested yet). The section connecting the coastal road to Dong Ha city is 12.2 km long. The entire route will have 6 new bridges, including 2 large bridges, 1 medium bridge and 3 small bridges.

The project has completed the selection of contractors for construction of 4/4 packages. Currently, construction is underway on 5 bridge projects on the route (including Thach Han 1 bridge, Thach Han 2 bridge, Trieu Trach bridge and 2 small bridges in Vinh Linh district) and 2 km of road in Gio Hai commune (Gio Linh).

In addition, the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board - the investor is actively coordinating with localities to speed up site clearance; proactively working with central ministries and branches to complete procedures for converting the purpose of using forests and rice fields.

To promote the effectiveness of the project, the central government has supported 600 billion VND and the Provincial People's Council has issued Resolution No. 129/NQHDND dated December 19, 2023 approving the investment policy of the Coastal Road Project through the Cua Tung and Cua Viet bridges, building a number of large bridges on the route to gradually connect the coastal road according to the planning through Quang Tri province (currently, Cua Viet bridge has no investment funding for construction).

National Highway 15D Construction Investment Project, Quang Tri Province: National Highway 15D is the main national highway of the Central region identified in the Vietnam Road Network Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 in Decision No. 1454/QD-TTg dated September 1, 2021 of the Prime Minister with a length of 92 km (including the section coinciding with the Ho Chi Minh Road, West Branch, 24 km long), grade III - IV road scale (2 - 4 lanes); is the shortest road route connecting My Thuy seaport to La Lay International Border Gate.

On November 21, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Document No. 1136/TTg-CN agreeing to assign the People's Committee of Quang Tri province as the competent authority to call for investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) method for the National Highway 15D construction project from National Highway 1 to the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road (about 42 km long). Currently, the investor proposing the project is completing the dossier to report to the competent authority as prescribed.

For National Highway 15D from the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road to La Lay International Border Gate (about 12 km long), the Ministry of Transport is currently assigning the Vietnam Road Administration and related units to prepare a report proposing an investment policy for implementation according to regulations (expected to be completed by the end of March 2024, and submit a dossier proposing an investment policy for the project).

Cam Lo - Lao Bao Expressway Project: Cam Lo - Lao Bao Expressway (CT.19) was approved by the Prime Minister in the Vietnam Road Network Planning for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050 in Decision No. 1454/QD-TTg dated September 1, 2021; with an expected length of 70 km, a cross-section of 4 lanes and an investment progress before 2030. The project has been approved by the Prime Minister for investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) method and assigned to the People's Committee of Quang Tri province as the competent authority in Document No. 350/TTg-CN dated April 15, 2022.

Implementing the direction of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, the Provincial People's Committee assigned Son Hai Group Company Limited to prepare a Pre-Feasibility Study Report for the Cam Lo - Lao Bao Expressway project under the PPP method in Document No. 3590/UBND-KT dated July 19, 2023.

After the investor proposed the project and completed the dossier, to implement the next step, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 18/TTr-UBND dated February 27, 2024 to the Prime Minister on the application of specific mechanisms, policies and budget support for participating in the project under the PPP method. Currently, the central ministries and branches are reviewing and reporting according to regulations.

Thank you, comrade!

Dao Tam Thanh (performed)

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