Assign the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Construction and VEC to clarify the feasibility of expanding the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section.

The Government Office has just issued Document No. 4003 dated May 9 on investment in expanding the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway.

The document sent to the Ministries of Finance, Construction and Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) conveyed the opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha after considering the proposal of the Ministry of Construction in Document No. 2150 dated April 17.

The Yen Bai - Lao Cai section of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway has only reached the scale of 2 lanes.

Accordingly, regarding the agreement in principle, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Finance to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and VEC to clarify whether the project is feasible or not; in which, it is necessary to affirm and commit to the project management capacity and financial capacity of VEC to implement this project investment and report to the Prime Minister before May 15.

According to the Road Network Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway is 264 km long and has 6 lanes.

In fact, the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway has been invested in and exploited by VEC to collect tolls to recover capital since 2014.

Of which, the Noi Bai - Yen Bai section (Km0 - Km123+080) and the final section of the expressway (Km244+155 - Km262+815) have been invested with a scale of 4 lanes.

The Yen Bai - Lao Cai section (Km123+080 - Km244+155) is about 121 km long; of which about 38 km has been invested in a 4-lane road surface, the remaining 83 km has been divided into 4-lane roadbed investment phases, but the road surface has only reached the scale of 2 lanes and there is no hard median strip in the middle.

After 10 years of operation, the road surface of this section has degraded and currently does not meet the design speed (average about 50 km/h), posing a high risk of traffic safety.

Therefore, on March 12, according to the content of Document No. 1997 of the Government Office, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the Ministry of Construction to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to clarify the capital source for the project (including the capital source that VEC can mobilize).

On that basis, the Deputy Prime Minister requested to urgently study the investment plan to expand the Yen Bai - Lao Cai expressway section in accordance with design standards and transportation needs according to the direction of the Prime Minister in Official Dispatch No. 16/CD-TTg dated February 21, 2024.

By the end of March, VEC had issued Document No. 726 dated March 21, proposing a capital structure for the Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway Expansion Project, Yen Bai - Lao Cai section.

According to VEC's proposal, the capital structure will include state budget capital of VND 3,055 billion (about 40% of total investment), VEC mobilized capital of VND 4,613 billion (about 60% of total investment) and interest during construction (expected 9%/year) of VND 622 billion. VEC also expects the toll collection period to recover capital for the capital mobilized by VEC to be about 20 years (expected to end in 2045).

In late April, the Ministry of Construction sent a dispatch to the Government leaders regarding investment in expanding the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway.

In this Document, the Ministry of Construction proposed that the Government approve the policy of allocating capital to increase central budget revenue in 2024 to participate in investment and assign VEC as the competent agency to implement the investment project to expand the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway.

The Ministry of Construction also proposed that the Government assign the Ministry of Finance to review and balance the decision on the allocation ratio of capital sources to increase central budget revenue in 2024 for the project based on principles, criteria, and balancing capacity of this capital source.

VEC reviews and calculates specific financial plans in case of capital mobilization to implement investment in expanding the Noi Bai - Lao Cai, Cau Gie - Ninh Binh, Long Thanh - Dau Giay expressways; in which ensuring the ability to mobilize capital to participate in investment in the above expressways, the ability to repay ODA capital from the Government, the feasibility of financial plans of each project in particular and the 5 projects currently managed and operated by VEC and the conformity with the plan to increase charter capital for the period 2024 - 2026 approved by competent authorities.

The Ministry of Construction also requested VEC to be responsible to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance for the enterprise's investment and production business plan; the progress and quality of projects assigned for investment and construction; to be responsible for developing a specific plan to implement the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section expansion investment project to start construction in 2025; to carefully assess the disbursement capacity in 2025 to propose appropriate capital sources to increase central budget revenue in 2024.

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Source: https://baolaocai.vn/giao-bo-tai-chinh-bo-xay-dung-va-vec-lam-ro-tinh-kha-thi-khi-mo-rong-doan-yen-bai-lao-cai-post401631.html