The Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway construction project has received crucial approval from the appraisal agencies to postpone the completion date of the entire route to September 2026.
The Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway construction project has received crucial approval from the appraisal agencies to postpone the completion date of the entire route to September 2026.
New critical path
The positive signals for adjusting the investment policy for the Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway Construction Project are clearly shown in Appraisal Report No. 10166/BC-BKHĐT, which the Ministry of Planning and Investment recently sent to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) earlier this week. According to the report, the Ministry of Planning and Investment – the agency assigned to lead the appraisal – stated that the project's investment policy has been adjusted by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 791/QĐ-TTg dated July 3, 2023, which extends the implementation period to September 30, 2025.
According to Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Transport , after the National Assembly, the Government, and the Prime Minister resolved obstacles regarding ODA funding and counterpart funding, and approved adjustments to the Project using capital arranged by the Vietnam Expressway Investment and Development Corporation (VEC), VEC and related units have urgently organized the construction of the project's packages. The main construction packages of the Project will essentially be completed before September 30, 2025, according to the approved project implementation timeline (excluding one new interchange package added under Decision No. 791/QD-TTg).
"Currently, the project only has Package J3-1 (the remaining volume of Package J3 - construction of Phuoc Khanh cable-stayed bridge) as a critical path to opening the entire Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway to traffic due to difficulties in the contractor selection process," a leader of the Ministry of Transport said.
It is understood that the negotiation process with the Japanese side regarding the tender documents for organizing an international tender and amending the conditions on the eligibility of bidders has been lengthy but has not yielded results, affecting the overall progress of the Project.
In order for the investor to organize bidding and implement the construction of Package J3-1, it is necessary to adjust the funding source from Japanese ODA loans to VEC's own capital. According to the roadmap proposed by the Ministry of Transport, after completing the procedures for approving the adjustment of the investment policy and the project adjustment, VEC will commence construction of Package J3-1 in March 2025 and complete it in September 2026.
In its Appraisal Report No. 10166/BC-BKHĐT, the Ministry of Planning and Investment assessed that the Ministry of Transport's proposal to adjust the project implementation time to September 30, 2026, is well-founded and ensures the project's completion. However, the allocation of public investment capital for the project has exceeded six years (the project commenced in 2014), as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 52 of the Law on Public Investment. Therefore, the Ministry of Planning and Investment requests the Ministry of Transport to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval of continued allocation of public investment capital for the project as prescribed.
The lead appraisal agency also noted that the Ministry of Transport is responsible for developing a specific implementation plan; determining the completion time to ensure feasibility and effectiveness; and avoiding the need to submit proposals to competent authorities for adjustments to the investment policy or extensions of the project implementation time multiple times, which would affect investment efficiency.
In accordance with the Prime Minister's directives.
Besides extending the implementation time, another important adjustment proposed by the Ministry of Transport to the Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway Construction Project relates to the investment capital structure.
According to the latest proposal, out of the total investment of the Project worth VND 29,586.914 billion, the loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is VND 7,085.608 billion (a decrease of VND 980.094 billion); the loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is VND 9,226.265 billion (a decrease of VND 1,361.093 billion); the counterpart funding is VND 3,872.37 billion (unchanged); and the capital arranged by VEC itself is VND 9,402.671 billion (an increase of VND 1,855.101 billion).
The Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway project is managed by the Ministry of Transport, with VEC as the investor. The project aims to construct 57.8 km of Class A expressway with 4 lanes and a design speed of 100 km/h. This expressway passes through the provinces of Long An (2.7 km), Ho Chi Minh City (28.4 km), and Dong Nai (28.7 km). 
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, VEC's proposal to proactively arrange capital allocation to continue implementing Package J3-1 to compensate for the reduction in JICA loan capital (VND 1,361.093 billion) in the Project, in order to expedite the implementation of the package and complete the expressway for operation and use, is consistent with the directives of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Government Resolution No. 41/NQ-CP dated March 30, 2023, on the allocation of counterpart funds for the Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway Construction Project.
In the event of Prime Minister's approval, the lead appraisal agency shall request the Ministry of Transport to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to review and implement the procedures for adjusting the Exchange of Notes and Loan Agreement with JICA corresponding to the reduction of items/packages as mentioned above in accordance with the law; at the same time, review the items using loan capital and current regulations, ensuring that foreign loan capital is not used for recurrent expenditure items.
“The Ministry of Transport, the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises, and VEC are responsible for balancing and allocating sufficient replacement capital to implement items previously planned to use foreign loans from ADB and JICA. The procedures for arranging capital must comply with the regulations of the Law on Management and Use of State Capital Invested in Production and Business at Enterprises,” the leader of the Ministry of Planning and Investment noted.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/den-xanh-tai-cao-toc-ben-luc---long-thanh-d232348.html
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