Speed up the pace for the aspiration of "Dai Lo - Dai Phu"

Along with the determination to "turn nothing into something, turn difficult into easy, turn impossible into possible"; "don't say no, don't say difficult, don't say yes but don't do"; "promised must do, committed must be implemented" as directed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh , the innovation in thinking to call for private investment capital, in the organization of management and implementation are important pillars for the transport sector to soon connect the North - South expressway in 2025, creating the premise for the country to own 5,000km of expressway by 2030.

As the construction of the North-South Expressway Project in the Eastern Region in the 2017-2020 period gradually comes to an end, it is also the time for traffic officers and engineers to start implementing a series of other large-scale projects to soon realize the goal of completing 3,000km of expressway by 2025, completing 5,000km of expressway by 2030, bringing prosperity and well-being to people in all regions of the country.

Exactly one week before the inauguration of the Mai Son - National Highway 45 component project of the North - South Expressway Construction Project in the Eastern Region in the period of 2017 - 2020 (April 29, 2023), Mr. Pham Duy Hieu, Deputy General Director of Deo Ca Group, who was assigned to command the construction of the Thung Thi road tunnel, was busy with the engineers in the Executive Board packing their belongings to move south to reinforce the Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon component project, the North - South Expressway Construction Investment Project in the period of 2021 - 2025, of which this contractor is the main contractor. Previously, hundreds of pieces of equipment after being repaired and renewed in Deo Ca were also loaded onto heavy equipment trucks and sent to other North - South Expressway component projects that this unit won the bid for. "We determined that the new campaign will be more stressful than the experiences at the Mai Son - National Highway 45 component project, but the Deo Ca brothers are determined to shorten the progress according to the direction of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh when giving the order to start the North - South Expressway Construction Investment Project in the 2021 - 2025 period: If you promise, you must do it, if you commit, you must implement it", Mr. Hieu shared. Not only Deo Ca Group, when the construction of the North - South Eastern Expressway in the 2017 - 2020 period gradually comes to an end, it is also the time when thousands of traffic officers and engineers will directly implement or coordinate with localities to implement a series of other large-scale projects to soon realize the aspiration for prosperity for people in all regions of the country.

In the list of 18 projects under the management of the State Steering Committee for important national works and projects, key to the transport sector, headed by the Prime Minister, there are many large-scale expressways and beltways worth hundreds of thousands of billions of VND. All serve the goal identified by the 13th Party Congress: "focus on developing the expressway network; by 2030, the whole country strives to have about 5,000km of expressways, of which the North-South expressway in the East will be completed by 2025". This is a major priority of the National Assembly . The Government has devoted large resources to investment, focusing on key points, balancing between regions and focusing on important expressways, the backbone with spillover effects such as the North-South Expressway, the East-West Expressway axes and the ring roads of major cities, especially the North-South Expressway Project in the East phase 2021 - 2025 with the goal of completing the trans-Vietnam expressway in 2025. It should be added that, just a few hours before Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh gave the order to simultaneously start construction of 12 component projects of the North-South Expressway Project in the East phase 2021 - 2025 on the morning of January 1, 2023, at the central bridge point of the ceremony in Mo Duc district, Quang Ngai province, the sky began to clear up after a series of continuous days of heavy rain, signaling a favorable start for this special project.

At the unprecedented groundbreaking ceremony in the history of the transport sector, which was simultaneously deployed in 9 provinces and cities across 3 regions in the form of online connection, the command "faster, more urgently" continued to be set by the head of the Government for the Ministry of Transport - the main unit in developing expressways - the type of infrastructure that is considered as "boulevards" that bring "great wealth" to the country. The impatience of the Prime Minister is well-founded because in the past 20 years, despite attention and investment, our whole country has only completed and put into operation about 1,400km of expressways. That number is very modest compared to the needs of economic development, exploiting the potential and advantages of the country. While reality has proven that wherever expressways are opened, they promote investment efficiency, contributing to the growth of GRDP of localities, regions and the whole country. It is known that in the assessment report on the US highway system, after 40 years of investment and operation, the consulting agency Wendell Cox commented that this is "America's best investment decision" and the report assessed that: "Without exaggeration, the highway system is like an engine that brings the United States to an unexpected level of prosperity and is a launching pad for the US to maintain its superpower position when entering the 21st century". Over the past 2 years, at all meetings of the State Steering Committee for key projects in the transport sector or inspection and implementation inspection sessions, the head of the Government has continuously emphasized the top important and unchangeable goal of the Ministry of Transport in the next 3 years is to connect the expressway from Lang Son to Ca Mau - the most important economic corridor of the country, 2,063 km long from Huu Nghi - Lang Son border gate to Ca Mau, passing through 32 provinces and cities by 2025.

In particular, the North-South Eastern Expressway Project in the 2021-2025 period has a length of 729km with a total investment of nearly 150,000 billion VND, a scale of 4 lanes, which can be considered a "500KV line" that the transport sector expects to contribute to the common prosperity of the country. With that meaning, during the field inspection trips and 4 meetings of the State Steering Committee for important national projects and works, the key transport sector, the head of the Government, the Prime Minister, requested the Ministry of Transport and related ministries, branches and localities to determine that they are sailing on the same boat of responsibility. Therefore, absolutely do not shirk responsibility, work with high determination, great effort, act decisively, effectively, with focus, key points, complete each task, resolve any difficulties or problems, proactively grasp the situation, solve problems, strengthen discipline. "We must consider this as our own work, say we must do it, commit to it, do it effectively, have specific products, be evaluated and recognized by the people and competent authorities", the Prime Minister stated clearly.

The message of opening the North-South Eastern Expressway in 2025 and the determination to complete the goal of having 5,000km of expressway nationwide by 2030 was clearly conveyed by the Prime Minister during his special working trip across Tet and Vietnam in early 2022, lasting 3 days, on a road route of nearly 1,600km and many flights to the South and North. Along with a series of issues both specifically related to the construction of projects and related to general regulations on institutions, mechanisms and policies decided by the Prime Minister right at the construction site in early Spring. The head of the Government also aroused the spirit of attack, taking advantage of every hour and every day on many key infrastructure projects of the transport sector. Right at the North-South Eastern Expressway Project in the 2021-2025 period, if calculated from the time the National Assembly approved the investment policy until the Ministry of Transport organized the simultaneous groundbreaking of 12 components, it only took 10 months. According to Mr. Nguyen Danh Huy, Deputy Minister of Transport, in addition to the support of the special mechanisms allowed by the National Assembly and the Government to apply, the investors and design survey consultants have entered a rapid deployment campaign with the spirit of "no work, no time", overcoming all difficulties to meet the project's groundbreaking schedule.

"Previously, on average, an important national project took about 2-3 years to prepare. With new thinking and a new breakthrough approach, although the North-South Eastern Expressway project in the 2021-2025 period is the largest ever, many projects have complex technical factors, we only implemented it within 1 year, shortening the time by more than half compared to before," Mr. Huy shared. In the context of the economy slowing down at the end of 2022 and forecasting that 2023 will face many difficulties and challenges, public investment is identified as a decisive factor to maintain growth, especially after a long period of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses as well as the economy are still weak. The simultaneous commencement of the North-South Eastern Expressway Project for the 2021-2025 period will contribute to creating business opportunities and increasing resilience for businesses in the construction, materials, machinery and equipment sectors. When more businesses remain in the market, more jobs are maintained, which will both promote and pull the economy. A notable feature of the North-South Expressway Project for the 2021-2025 period is that the construction packages are divided into very large scales according to the Government's requirements. Mr. Nguyen Danh Huy, Deputy Minister of Transport, said that as an important national project with high technical requirements, it must be basically completed by 2025 and put into operation from 2026. The project is divided into 12 component projects, operating independently. The National Assembly and the Government allow the Ministry of Transport and localities to apply the bidding mechanism to implement the project.

To ensure the progress and quality of the project, the Government and the Prime Minister have paid close attention and directed the Ministry of Transport and other ministries, branches and localities during the implementation process. On that basis, based on the technical nature of the works and the specific conditions of each component project, the investor units have proposed and submitted to the Ministry of Transport for approval a contractor selection plan, in which each component project is divided into 1 to 3 construction packages with a scale of 3,000 to 8,000 billion VND. To be considered for bid designation, construction contractors must meet 5 conditions: have a Class I capacity certificate for road works, a capacity certificate appropriate to the level of bridge and tunnel works of the package under consideration (corresponding to the level of bridge and tunnel works...); must have experience in performing similar technical contracts as a contractor (with the same type and level of construction) and have a similar contract value of at least 50% of the price of the package under consideration; financial resources must meet the requirements; average revenue from construction activities in the last 3 years must be equivalent to the price of the package under consideration. In addition, the Ministry of Transport also requires contractors to mobilize personnel, machinery, and equipment appropriate to the scale of the package to ensure quality and progress; in case the contractor participates in many packages, it must ensure that there is no overlap in personnel, machinery, and equipment between the packages and meet the financial resources allocated for each package. According to Mr. Tran Chung, former Director of the State Appraisal Department of Construction Quality, these are very strict requirements but help private contractors to quickly mature in the field of bridge and road construction, even as a springboard to reach out to the construction market in the region. "New private investors such as Deo Ca, Son Hai, Phuong Thanh; or public corporations originating from state-owned enterprises such as Cienco4, Vinaconex... are the flag bearers in the task of building large infrastructure projects, opening avenues to help the country become prosperous," Mr. Tran Chung commented. Up to now, this is a very wise policy when contractors assigned to major packages have all caught up very quickly with the construction work thanks to their outstanding capacity as well as the experience accumulated from the "120-night sprint campaign" to construct the Project to build some sections of the North-South Expressway in the East in the period of 2017 - 2020. To encourage construction units, the Prime Minister issued Decree No. 15/2023/ND-CP dated April 25, 2023, stipulating the contract bonus regime for construction packages belonging to transport projects in the Socio-economic Recovery and Development Program.

Along with the establishment of a scientific method for calculating bonuses, Decree No. 15 allows construction packages belonging to projects in the list of contracts signed before the effective date of this Decree to apply the provisions on contract bonuses. The investor and the contractor will sign an additional contract appendix on the content of contract bonuses according to the provisions of this Decree. In the ideal case, contractors can be awarded a contract bonus with a maximum value of up to 5% of the contract value (excluding contingencies). "This is a big enough motivation for contractors to mobilize more machinery, equipment and workers to complete the project early," said Mr. Tran Quang Tuyen, Deputy General Director of Van Cuong Construction Company. To embark on the "big battle", many contractors have invested heavily in purchasing the most advanced equipment in the field of transport infrastructure; retraining their staff according to new standards. A typical example is Deo Ca Group - the unit selected to construct Package XL1, Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon Expressway Component Project, which has invested more than 1,000 billion VND in new equipment. This contractor has also pioneered the application of digital technology in surveying and designing construction drawings, through the automatic scanning system "3D-Laser-Scanning" and "LiDAR" aerial photography to limit manual human intervention to create transparency, synchronization, speed and accuracy. "We are willing to share experiences with other contractors to work together to complete the North - South Eastern Expressway Project, phase 2021 - 2025 on schedule; ready to support and replace weak contractors when the progress and construction quality do not meet the requirements in the spirit of: Do not let the project be delayed for one more day, one more day of debt to the people", Mr. Ho Minh Hoang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deo Ca Group committed. Content: Xuan Toan - Huy Linh Design: Tuan Huy

Dantri.com.vn