On the first morning of the new year 2024, the Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway PPP project was ordered to start construction by the Government leaders. With a total phase 1 investment of more than 14.000 billion VND, Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway is also the first PPP project to be started for piloting state budget capital support of up to 70% according to the National Assembly's resolution. festival.
Dong Dang - Tra Linh Expressway was started after many years of problems
According to the investor of Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway, the implementation will be a premise to demonstrate the successful resolution of difficulties in PPP projects for many years, to continue implementing difficult key projects in the future. next time.
Previously, 5 component projects of the North - South expressway in the 2017 - 2020 period in the form of PPP had to be converted to public investment, leaving only 3 projects that could be implemented in the form of PPP.
However, in 2024 there will be more "mega projects" in the form of PPP being promoted such as Gia Nghia - Chon Thanh, Ninh Binh - Thai Binh - Nam Dinh - Hai Phong expressway...
According to the Ministry of Transport, there are 16 investment projects using the PPP method. In addition to 4 projects completed and put into operation (including Bac Giang - Lang Son, Quang Ninh - Hai Phong, Ha Long - Van Don, Van Don - Mong Cai), there are 5 projects that have had investment policies approved and 7 The project is preparing investment policies.
In the context of limited public resources, unlocking PPP resources for transport infrastructure is expected to contribute to accelerating investment in expressway projects, achieving the National Assembly's target of 3.000 km of expressways by 2025. , the Government has proposed.
According to Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, the numbers on the number of kilometers of highways built in the past 3 years are astonishing and have groundbreaking significance. With a huge investment strategy for transportation infrastructure, not only highways, a series of bottlenecks in fields from air and seaports are being removed with a comprehensive vision.
In particular, not only major economic regions benefit from increased connection infrastructure, but also the difficult northern mountainous regions or Mekong Delta provinces receive strong investment, creating great motivation. for socio-economic development of these areas.
“2024 will still be a difficult year like 2023 when the world economy is still unstable and the health of domestic businesses is still limited. However, instead of paying too much attention to short-term GDP growth, it is necessary to prepare conditions for longer-term growth, which the Government is currently doing very well by investing in transport infrastructure and preparing quality human resources. high quality, institutional reform... In other words, if we focus on solving bottlenecks, including infrastructure, it will help the long-term growth story of the economy," Dr. Thien acknowledged.
Put effort into infrastructure "bottlenecks".
According to Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang, 2023 is a year of many breakthroughs in investment in transport infrastructure development. The year 2023 opens with the simultaneous groundbreaking of 12 component projects under the investment project to build the North-South Expressway in the East for the period 2021 - 2025, 729 km long. This is also the first time the groundbreaking of projects is carried out simultaneously across the country.
My Thuan 2 Bridge opens at the end of 2023
For the whole year, 26 major transportation projects were started. Among them, there are 12 component projects of the North-South Expressway in the East (phase 2), East-West highway axis projects and urban belt roads in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Just last year, the transport industry put into operation 20 projects, with 9 expressway projects longer than 475 km, bringing the total length of expressways put into operation across the country to 1.892 km.
From more than 55.000 billion VND of planned investment capital allocated in 2022, by 2023, the Ministry of Transport will be assigned 94.000 billion VND by the Government. If including 19.900 billion VND in economic capital, by 2023 the transport industry must disburse capital of up to 114.000 billion VND. This is a big challenge in the context of the disbursement rate of public and general investment capital being quite slow.
To speed up disbursement progress, leaders of the Ministry of Transport require low disbursement projects to be immediately balanced with high disbursement projects; If the project is delayed in disbursement for a long time, the head of the investor and the Project Management Board must be responsible. By the end of December 12.2023, the Ministry of Transport has basically disbursed 90% of the plan and is forecast to reach the target of 95% of the assigned plan by the end of the disbursement year (January 1.2024).
Notably, by the end of 2023, up to 25 expressway projects have been decentralized to local authorities as competent authorities. The decentralization and radical decentralization of power to localities to manage and exploit traffic infrastructure is being implemented in accordance with the Government's guiding spirit of "what the locality can do, let the locality do it".
Previously, at the 6th session of the 50th National Assembly, the Government approved a plan to submit a Resolution on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies on investment in the construction of road traffic projects. This is considered a breakthrough in institutions, removing bottlenecks in traffic projects, allowing state budget capital contribution to exceed XNUMX% as prescribed in the PPP law.
In 2024, according to the plan, the Ministry of Transport will complete and put into operation two expressway projects: Dien Chau - Bai Vot and Cam Lam - Vinh Hao, bringing the total number of expressways put into operation to 2 km. At the same time, localities complete documents to start construction on 2.021 expressway projects assigned by the locality as the managing agency.
The Ministry of Transport also strives to approve the investment policy of the North-South high-speed railway project; Accelerate investment preparation progress in important railway routes such as: Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau, Long Thanh - Thu Thiem, Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong.
In 2023, transport will recover and there will be a strong shift in market share structure, with growth in waterway and rail transport sharing pressure on roads.
After many years of losses, Vietnam Railway Corporation in the three quarters of 3 has net revenue of nearly 2023 billion VND, profit after tax from transportation exceeding plan. The railway has also established an international intermodal terminal at Kep station (Bac Giang), exporting goods from Song Than station, Binh Duong to China.
