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| Toll collection station at BVEC's National Highway 51 BOT Project is temporarily stopping toll collection. |
Unilateral decision
“We are in a desperate situation, facing difficulties on all sides, so we hope that the competent authorities will pay attention and direct a thorough handling, returning the legitimate and legal rights of businesses in the National Highway 51 Expansion Investment Project, section from Km0+900 - Km73+600,” said Mr. Dinh Hong Ha, General Director of BVEC.
According to Mr. Ha, from having nearly 400 - 500 employees, BVEC now has only a staff of less than ten, with almost no salary or any benefits.
This group of personnel was persuaded by BVEC's leadership to stay and accompany the enterprise to handle contractual problems with the Vietnam Road Administration ( Ministry of Construction ), as well as negotiate debt deferrals with banks sponsoring the National Highway 51 expansion project, section from Km0+900 - Km73+600.
Project starting point: at Km0+900 National Highway 51 (adjacent to Dong Nai Bridge Project); end point: at Km73+600 National Highway 51 with a total length of 72.7 km.
Road grade: level III plain road; design speed 80 km/h.
Construction start date: August 2, 2009; completion date: April 13, 2013.
It is known that at the end of September 2025, BVEC continued to send a written request to the competent authority, requesting the Government to direct the Ministry of Construction and relevant agencies to resolve unresolved issues in the process of settling investment capital, negotiating to handle existing problems and obstacles of the Project.
“Our spirit is to uphold the law and respect the terms of the BOT Project Contract for Investment in the construction and expansion of National Highway 51, from Km0+900 - Km73+600, which has been signed and has been granted an Investment Certificate by the competent authority,” emphasized the leader of BVEC.
Specifically, BVEC proposed that the Ministry of Construction and the Vietnam Road Administration maintain the capital preservation fee at 8.7%/year during both the investment and operation phases as stipulated in the signed BOT Contract and appendices.
The investor also wishes to maintain the profit-making period of 4 years from the time of capital recovery as stipulated in the Contract; at the same time, it is recommended that the Ministry of Construction review and agree with the investor on the expenses (mainly loan interest) that have been cut by the Vietnam Road Administration.
BVEC also requested competent authorities to consult with the Government to direct the Ministry of Construction and the Vietnam Road Administration to cancel Official Dispatch No. 137/CDBVN-TC dated January 9, 2023 of the Vietnam Road Administration on the temporary suspension of toll collection at toll stations on National Highway 51.
“I hope the State Bank will give its opinion so that the banks that co-finance the Project will stop suing BVEC in court, because this is a force majeure situation, the investor has had to stop collecting fees while he has not yet paid off the bank loan and has not yet recovered the investment capital,” Mr. Ha proposed.
BVEC was approved by the Ministry of Transport (MOT, now the Ministry of Construction) as the investor of the National Highway 51 expansion project, section from Km0+900 - Km73+600 under the form of a BOT contract.
On that basis, BVEC signed Contract No. 21/2009/HD.BOT-QL51 dated November 12, 2009 with the Vietnam Road Administration and was granted Investment Certificate No. 36/BKH-GCNDTTN dated December 28, 2009.
The project started in August 2009 and was completed and put into operation in April 2013. According to Contract Appendix No. 03/PLHD-21/BOT-BGTVT dated February 27, 2017, the total investment of the project is 3,779,803 billion VND; the toll collection period to recover capital is 12.48 years (July 24, 2013 - January 12, 2026); the toll collection period to generate profit is 4 years (January 13, 2026 - January 12, 2030).
By the end of 2018, the Vietnam Road Administration - the unit assigned by the Ministry of Transport to represent the competent state agency, recalculated the toll collection time to create profits for the Project.
According to the expected profit method (ie the profit that the investor receives in 4 years of generating profit according to the financial plan, excluding capital preservation interest), the Vietnam Road Administration recalculated and reduced the profit generation time from 4 years to 9 months.
Although it has not yet received the investor's consent, on January 9, 2023, the Vietnam Road Administration still issued Official Dispatch No. 137/CDBVN unilaterally requesting BVEC to temporarily stop collecting tolls at toll stations under the BOT project to expand National Highway 51 from 7:00 a.m. on January 13, 2023.
Investor goodwill
It is known that in the past time, the parties have held up to 21 negotiation meetings to find ways to completely resolve the problems, especially to determine the exact date to officially stop collecting tolls at the Project. BVEC has also repeatedly shown goodwill by proactively proposing options for the Vietnam Road Administration to consider.
After many times of proposing different options but not being approved, on October 9, 2024, BVEC sent an official dispatch to the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Road Administration, officially proposing a plan to reduce the time to generate profit from 48 months (4 years) to 31 months and 6 days.
According to Mr. Dinh Hong Ha, with this plan, after calculating the bank debt repayment plan, BVEC will only be able to pay off the principal and interest, and return capital to shareholders. “This is a plan that BVEC has carefully reviewed and considered on the basis of reason and logic, ensuring the harmony of interests between the parties, in accordance with the Prime Minister's direction: Harmonious interests, shared difficulties”, Mr. Ha affirmed.
However, at the 21st negotiation meeting on October 18, 2024, the Vietnam Road Administration, although not giving an official plan, did not agree with the above proposal of BVEC. Based on the meeting content, the Administration only considered plans with a profit-making period of less than 25.7 months.
If we count the time that has been collected to create profit, which is 10 months and 4 days (from the date of capital recovery on March 10, 2022 to the date of suspension of toll collection on January 13, 2023), the remaining toll collection time is only 13 months and 7 days from the expected date of resumption of toll collection (provisional calculation: April 1, 2025).
BVEC continues to send Document No. 05/CT-TCKT proposing a solution to resolve the problems of the National Highway 51 BOT Project. However, up to now, BVEC has not received an approval response from the Vietnam Road Administration.
According to BVEC, the sudden suspension of toll collection has led to many consequences. In addition to the unfunded capital contribution of shareholders of more than VND 307 billion, the outstanding principal debt of the bank as of September 30, 2025 is VND 470,306 billion, not to mention the overdue interest debt of more than VND 100.2 billion arising from the time of the suspension of toll collection.
“BVEC’s loans to co-financing banks are secured by toll collection rights. The suspension of toll collection has made it impossible for BVEC to repay its debts. The banks, including three state-owned commercial banks, have been unable to recover their loans and have planned to sue the investors,” said Mr. Dinh Hong Ha.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/kho-khan-chong-chat-cua-nha-dau-tu-du-an-bot-quoc-lo-51-d413134.html
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