Expectations of highways to bring the country into a new era

“I remember every bridge ledge and every pothole on Highway 1. When carrying fragile goods, I had to walk carefully,” said Mr. Nguyen Duc Hung while enjoying a bowl of beef noodle soup at a shop near Nghi Son intersection (North-South Expressway through Thanh Hoa ). He boasted that “since the highway was built, I have been able to stop and eat leisurely.”

Mr. Hung is a truck driver who specializes in the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City route. Previously, after reaching the end of the Cau Gie – Ninh Binh Expressway, the truck had to turn onto National Highway 1, starting a miserable journey because of the degraded roads and potential risk of accidents.

“In the past, before the new highways were built, it took us 45-47 hours to transport a shipment from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. Since the new highways were built, the time has been reduced to 38 hours if we stop to rest, or even 34 hours if we take advantage of the time,” said the driver.

In the Government's report to the National Assembly at the 8th session, the development of transport infrastructure was assessed to have made a clear breakthrough when many important transport works, with regional connectivity significance and spillover effects, were put into operation.

Most recently, 109km of expressway in the Cam Lam - Vinh Hao, Dien Chau - QL46B sections (belonging to the Dien Chau - Bai Vot component project of the North - South Eastern Expressway in the 2017-2020 period) has been put into operation, bringing the total length of expressway nationwide to more than 2,021km.

In addition to the Hoa Binh – Moc Chau expressway that has been started, the Government assessed that the construction progress of the North – South expressways in the East in the 2021-2025 period, Khanh Hoa – Buon Ma Thuot, Bien Hoa – Vung Tau, Chau Doc – Can Tho – Soc Trang… although there are many difficulties and problems, is still guaranteed to be on schedule.

The Government has also issued a Plan to implement the peak emulation campaign "500 days and nights of emulation to complete 3,000km of expressway".

Many key transport projects that have achieved and exceeded progress have become typical models, creating motivation and inspiration in the implementation of important national works and projects with new approaches, new thinking, new management, mobilizing total strength, meeting practical development requirements, contributing to the successful implementation of strategic breakthroughs in developing synchronous and modern strategic infrastructure.

“After only 3 years of the 13th Party Congress, the number of kilometers of highway put into use is equal to more than half of the completed kilometers of highway during the entire 2004-2020 period,” National Assembly delegate Pham Van Thinh (Bac Giang) compared and commented that the goal of completing 3,000 kilometers of highway by 2025 is completely feasible.

According to him, expressway projects have opened up many new development spaces, helping to reduce logistics costs, improve economic efficiency, raise the country's competitiveness in attracting investment and change the awareness, thinking, and spirit of daring to think, daring to do, determination to do and achieve in the heads of agencies and localities.

“A new spirit is creeping in, quietly and tirelessly rising amidst the difficulties, challenges, and adverse impacts of the world economy, natural disasters, climate change, and conflicts between countries around the world, clearly demonstrated through outstanding achievements in the country's strategic transport infrastructure investment,” said Mr. Thinh.

The delegate commented that these results are a solid launching pad, creating growth momentum not only in the economy but also a practical basis for belief in a bright future, in a new era - the era of the Vietnamese people's rise, an era of readiness, determination to do and achieve miracles, new breakthroughs in building and developing the country.

Mr. Tran Khac Tam (Chairman of the Soc Trang Provincial Business Association, member of the 13th National Assembly) assessed that after nearly 40 years of innovation and 13 years of implementing the Socio-Economic Development Strategy for the 2011-2020 period set forth at the 11th National Party Congress, Vietnam's transport infrastructure system has witnessed an explosion and "transformation" to develop exponentially.

From a time when there were no expressways, Vietnam now has more than 2,000km of expressways. It is expected that by 2025, the whole country will have about 3,000km and reach the target of 5,000km by 2030.

“It can be said that this is the result of the tireless efforts of the Party, State, Government and the entire political system,” Mr. Tam emphasized.

Chairman of Binh Duong Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Minh also commented that the number of kilometers of expressway completed during this term is a breakthrough, and that breakthrough was achieved thanks to institutional and policy breakthroughs of the Party, National Assembly, and Government.

“Right from the Resolution of the 13th National Congress, it was determined to focus on investing in transportation, especially highways. After that, the National Assembly issued many important decisions to loosen the policy constraints, creating a basis for the Government to resolutely implement and operate. Thanks to the policies and guidelines being cleared from top to bottom, the budget capital, although not much, is always arranged and allocated to transportation projects in a timely and appropriate manner,” Mr. Minh stated his opinion.

In addition, according to the leader of Binh Duong province, the National Assembly and the Government's creation of favorable conditions in terms of mechanisms, especially the assignment of local initiative to implementation with the motto "locality does, locality is responsible", has helped reduce many intermediary steps, shortening the time for project implementation and construction.

Impressed by the presence of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at every highway construction site with many drastic instructions and timely encouragement, Mr. Minh commented that the presence of the Prime Minister and Government leaders brought great encouragement to both localities and contractors as well as the construction team.

That presence also shows the Prime Minister's attention and closeness to key traffic projects.

“The close supervision and strong direction of the Government and the Prime Minister are some of the highlights that have helped the transport infrastructure system make breakthrough developments,” emphasized Dr. Tran Khac Tam.

According to him, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has built a vibrant emulation movement, promptly encouraged and rewarded, created an enthusiastic working atmosphere, competed to achieve results, all for the benefit of the nation, people and for the development of the country.

Thanks to that inspiration, the Project Management Boards, consultants, construction contractors, equipment suppliers and related units work with the spirit of "overcoming the sun, overcoming the rain, not losing to the wind and storm", "only working, not backing down", "not enough work during the day, working at night", "eating quickly, sleeping urgently", "working continuously 24/7", "3 shifts, 4 shifts", "working through Tet, through holidays" to strive to complete the projects. This is the motivation for local authorities and contractors to overcome difficulties and challenges, racing against time to complete the project progress.

“I appreciate the determination of the Government and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh himself. With the Prime Minister’s determination, people will certainly benefit greatly from large infrastructure projects,” said Mr. Tam.

“In just 3-4 years, when coming to the Mekong Delta, many people will probably be 'startled' by the positive changes in the transport infrastructure system when many highways and large bridges are put into operation. In particular, when Tran De deep-water port is started, it will bring more opportunities for the Mekong Delta provinces to develop rapidly,” said Mr. Tam.

At the end of September, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh personally inspected the construction of the Ho Chi Minh City – Thu Dau Mot – Chon Thanh expressway. This is the first expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, of which the section passing through Binh Duong is the longest (over 52km).

Binh Duong Chairman Vo Van Minh said this is a key project on the North-South expressway axis, connecting with Ho Chi Minh City's Ring Roads 2, 3 and 4, and connecting to the Gia Nghia (Dak Nong) - Chon Thanh (Binh Phuoc) expressway, creating an important link to airports and seaports.

Therefore, the project is of special importance in connecting localities in the Southeast region and between the Southeast region and the Central Highlands provinces.

“This expressway connects Gia Nghia – Chon Thanh expressway, which is an important premise to create a large development space, connecting from the Central Highlands to Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City,” Mr. Minh emphasized.

Assessing the huge travel needs of people as well as the volume of goods circulating on the route, the Chairman of Binh Duong province hopes that when the expressway is completed, it will create a development area and economic corridor, bringing advantages in trade and transportation of goods and agricultural products, creating spillover effects and bringing regional connectivity value.

The project was approved by the People's Council of Binh Duong province for investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) model and committed to using the local budget; expected to be implemented from 2024 to 2027.

According to Mr. Minh, the locality is making efforts to implement compensation, site clearance and procedures to select investors to carry out the construction project, which is expected to be completed and commenced by the end of this year.

Site clearance was the most difficult part, but now, according to Mr. Minh, it has become much easier because the people have high consensus and share the desire to have a highway to create more value. Moreover, this project mostly passes through agricultural land, so the province has determined to focus on attention, ensuring appropriate compensation policies and doing a good job of resettlement so that people can soon hand over the site.

With the highway, combined with the planning and arrangement of reasonable intersections, Mr. Minh believes that it will help to maximize the potential for developing new economic spaces from the highway. This will promote the development of new-generation industrial parks, services, and urban areas, associated with science and technology, innovation, digital economy, green economy, and circular economy.

Having met and listened to many businesses' opinions, the Chairman of Binh Duong said that any business investing in the locality shares the expectation that the locality will have good transport infrastructure, because this is a key condition to help improve competitiveness and reduce travel time and costs.

“Without good roads and highways, traveling and transporting goods is difficult, time-consuming and costly. But when the highways are built, investors and businesses will be very happy because before it cost 10 dong, now it only costs 5 dong,” said Mr. Minh.

Also citing a real-life story, Dr. Tran Khac Tam said that last September, he participated in the Soc Trang province's trade and investment promotion delegation to China, led by Permanent Vice Chairman Lam Hoang Nghiep.

The delegation worked and signed a cooperation agreement with the No. 1 Expressway Construction Corporation (CFHEC) - a large transport construction enterprise with 28 branches worldwide.

This enterprise has participated in the construction of 52,000km of road works; 2,400km of roads; and construction of urban railway projects such as subways with a total length of more than 2,000km.

According to Mr. Tam, when meeting with FDI enterprises such as CFHEC, they all shared their desire to come to the Mekong Delta provinces in general, and Soc Trang province in particular, to invest in areas such as clean energy, smart construction, hydropower and irrigation, etc.

However, to be able to invest, Mr. Tam said that businesses are very interested in the transport infrastructure system.

The six planned expressways and the Chau Doc – Can Tho – Soc Trang expressway under construction have partly attracted the attention of FDI enterprises to the Mekong Delta provinces, according to Mr. Tam.

A practical issue is the quality and efficiency of traffic works when they are put into use, because when implementing many tasks at the same time, it is difficult to avoid errors and risks. Therefore, the supervisory role of the National Assembly is extremely important.

The National Assembly also decided to exercise supreme supervision over the implementation of Resolution No. 43 on fiscal and monetary policies to support the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program and the National Assembly's resolutions on a number of important national projects until the end of 2023.

According to delegate Trinh Xuan An, National Assembly supervision does not interfere with the Government's operations, but has a positive impact by contributing to accelerating key transport projects and works.

The National Assembly accompanies the Government to remove difficulties and obstacles, and the solutions proposed in the National Assembly's resolution are very close to reality to remove obstacles for projects. During the implementation process, if there are problems that require policy changes, the National Assembly is ready to discuss with the Government to make appropriate decisions, helping projects and works to be implemented quickly and in the right direction. That shows the close relationship between the policy-making agency and the executive agency, according to Mr. An.

“Normally, there is a certain distance between policy and operation, but here, we see a coincidence in both policy making and operation, design, construction, and supervision,” Mr. An stated his opinion.

According to him, with key transport projects, waiting for them to be completed before supervising them will not have much meaning in speeding up and removing obstacles. Working while supervising is a special mechanism applied and implemented by the National Assembly during this term and has shown clear changes and impacts.

Directly participating in the delegation to supervise the implementation of Resolution 43 of the National Assembly, delegate Trinh Xuan An said that many practical problems have been quickly resolved.

For example, the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau expressway lacks land but cannot use the land of Long Thanh airport to fill the expressway, because it is an unpriced asset. Dong Nai province has sent a document to the National Assembly Standing Committee requesting permission to use the land of T3 terminal to build the expressway through the area, in order to reduce construction costs.

Immediately afterwards, the National Assembly Standing Committee requested the Government to direct relevant agencies to review and decide on the use of unused land of phase 2 of the airport to construct the expressway project.

In February 2024, the Prime Minister assigned the People's Committee of Dong Nai province to be responsible for exploiting land from the T3 terminal area for use for the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau expressway according to its authority, in order to promptly supply it to the project. And 4 months later, Resolution No. 140 of the National Assembly also had opinions to remove difficulties and obstacles regarding the use of unused land volume of phase 2 from the T3 terminal planning area, to serve the need for land for embankment of the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau expressway.

Looking back over the past half of the term, it can be seen that the construction of the expressway had encountered many obstacles, especially the shortage of raw materials, including the most needed "raw material" for the project: a determined spirit, daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, daring to innovate for the common good.

Understanding that mentality, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has repeatedly issued official dispatches to rectify and strengthen the responsibility in handling the work of ministries, agencies and localities. The National Assembly has also heated up many sessions with statements proposing to decisively eliminate the fear of mistakes and fear of responsibility. This is considered a "precious medicine" to cure the disease of "not daring to do" that is present in many units.

In particular, in the construction of key transport projects, the head of the Government continuously promotes the spirit of resolutely not avoiding, not pushing, not saying no, not saying difficult, must do resolutely, said must do, committed must be implemented and done must have effective products, clearly measured and weighed.

With such concerns, enthusiasm and responsibility, from the National Assembly, the Government to the Prime Minister and members of the Government have always stood side by side with the localities, accompanying and removing many obstacles to gradually build and form a modern expressway running along the length of the country.

The highways that cut through mountains, forests, and surround the coast are gradually emerging as a “beautiful picture”, not only opening up new development spaces, but also bringing bright faith and hope for a new era – the era of national growth.

Content: Hoai Thu, Ngoc Tan

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/ky-vong-duong-cao-toc-dua-dat-nuoc-vao-ky-nguyen-moi-20241103104832575.htm