Stop investing in the Bao Loc City bypass project under the BT contract form.

This is one of the items of the Investment Project to construct and restore National Highway 20, section Km0 - Km123+105.17, in the two provinces of Dong Nai and Lam Dong under the form of BT contract.

This is one of the items of the Investment Project to construct and restore National Highway 20, section Km0 - Km123+105.17, in the two provinces of Dong Nai and Lam Dong under the form of BT contract.

Bao Loc City bypass project is under construction.

The Minister of Transport has just signed Decision No. 96/QD – BGTVT approving the adjustment of the Investment Project for the construction of the restoration and renovation of National Highway 20, section Km0+000 - Km123+105.17 in Dong Nai and Lam Dong provinces under the form of BT Contract.

The most notable information in this decision is that the Ministry of Transport stops investing in the construction of the Bao Loc city bypass route under the BT contract form of the Project to hand over the status quo to the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee under the direction of Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh in Notice No. 534/TB-VPCP dated November 26, 2024 of the Government Office.

The Ministry of Transport assigns Project Management Board 7 to be responsible for inspecting and supervising the project implementation of the investor/project enterprise; promptly developing a capital plan, completing procedures for capital payment for the project; ensuring the use of State capital to pay for the project for the right purpose, objects, legal regulations and project investment efficiency, reporting to the Ministry of Transport to allocate capital payment for the project, ensuring full compliance with regulations; having measures to strictly manage the use and payment of capital and project credit loans, ensuring compliance with legal regulations and project contracts.

Project Management Board 7 is responsible for accurately determining the remaining volume and costs that have not been implemented for the Bao Loc City bypass project and completing the following procedures according to regulations to hand over the original status to Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee to promptly implement investment procedures to complete the route in 2025.

The investor/project enterprise (BT20 - Cuu Long Joint Stock Company) urgently works with the Lender and MIGA and relevant Ministries and branches to soon have an official consensus on the handling plan for the Bao Loc City bypass and complete the contents related to the adjusted credit contract (if any) according to regulations; sign the Contract Appendix according to the approved adjusted financial plan and adjusted contents (if any) during the project implementation process.

It should be added that the Bao Loc City bypass is a component of the National Highway 20 Project, section Km0 - Km123+105.17, to reduce the load on National Highway 20 running through the center of Bao Loc City.

As of July 2020, the Bao Loc City bypass has completed 15.48 km/15.58 km of roadbed, the National Highway 55 intersection has not been completed; 3/3 bridges have been basically completed, Nausri, Minh Rong 2 and Au Co bridges have been constructed to the bridge deck, railings, expansion joints have not been completed, asphalt concrete surface on the bridge... cone reinforcement has not been completed; crushed stone aggregate foundation, cement reinforcement completed 15 km/15.58 km (acceptance of 12.15 km...

Currently, Project Management Board 7, the project enterprise and the locality are continuing to handle the section of the route that has collapsed and sunk due to storms and rain.

In an official dispatch sent to the Government in June 2024, the Ministry of Transport explained quite specifically the reasons why the Bao Loc City bypass project could not be completed and has been stalled for the past 4 years.

Specifically, the site clearance cost approved by the locality increased by about 61.5 billion VND; according to the project's financial plan, in 2018 the project was supplemented with VAT refund sources to repay foreign loans, however, according to the Ministry of Finance's instructions, the project was not refunded VAT of about 361.869 billion VND, so there was a funding shortage.

Besides, in 2018, the state budget did not have time to allocate capital to repay foreign loans, so the project investor/enterprise used the project's capital to repay the debt in advance.

Meanwhile, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee could not allocate the remaining capital from the local budget as committed to complete the entire Bao Loc City bypass project due to the Budget Law at the time of construction.

According to Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Transport, due to the lack of capital for construction investment and site clearance compared to the approved financial plan, the Bao Loc City bypass has not been completed and construction has been temporarily suspended at the technical stop, posing many potential risks of traffic safety and landslides due to storms and floods.

In particular, due to the fact that the land clearance costs have not been paid and the payments to the people have not been completed, MIGA has had some opinions on environmental and social issues related to the project, and warned that failure to complete the project could lead to a breach of commitment assessment, impact on loan finance and impact on the national credit rating.

In early November 2024, the Ministry of Transport reaffirmed: stopping investment in the Bao Loc City bypass route under the BT contract form and establishing a new project for the remaining routes of the Bao Loc City bypass route to invest using public investment capital is the optimal solution to soon complete and put the project into operation.

While waiting for the organization to establish a new project, the Ministry of Transport shall direct its units to coordinate with relevant parties to manage and maintain the route; at the same time, review and arrange capital in the medium-term public investment plan of the Ministry of Transport and other legal capital sources (estimated at about 352.12 billion VND) for implementation.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/dung-dau-tu-hang-muc-tuyen-tranh-tp-bao-loc-theo-hinh-thuc-hop-dong-bt-d243959.html