Decision to invest in the Cho Moi expressway.

Báo Đầu tư•05/03/2024

Decision to invest in the Cho Moi - Bac Kan expressway with a scale of 4 lanes.

The Chợ Mới – Bắc Kạn route project in Bắc Kạn province, spanning 28.4km, will be constructed as a complete 4-lane expressway with a roadbed width of 22m and a road surface width of 20.5m.

Illustrative image.

The Minister of Transport has just signed Decision No. 180/QD-BGTVT approving the adjustment of the investment policy for the Cho Moi - Bac Kan route construction project in Bac Kan province.

Specifically, the Ministry of Transport is adjusting the investment scope, with the project's starting point at Km0+00 (connecting to the Thai Nguyen – Cho Moi expressway, Cho Moi district, Bac Kan province); and the project's end point at Km28+400 (connecting to the Bac Kan – Cao Bang expressway, Bac Kan city, Bac Kan province). In the immediate phase, investment will be made in extending the route by approximately 0.4km from the project's end point to National Highway 3B and connecting to the Bac Kan – Ba Be Lake road, Bac Kan city, Bac Kan province.

The total length of the project is approximately 28.8km, of which the Cho Moi – Bac Kan expressway is about 28.4km long, and the connecting section is about 0.4km.

In Decision No. 180, the Ministry of Transport also adjusted the design scale. Accordingly, the expressway is designed according to TCVN 5729:2012 standards, a Class 80 expressway with a design speed of 80 km/h; the bridge structures are designed according to TCVN 11823:2017 standards; the connecting route is designed according to Class III road standards, TCVN 4054:2005. The expressway's cross-section will be constructed with 4 complete lanes, with a roadbed width of 22m and a road surface width of 20.5m; the connecting section will be constructed with a roadbed width of 12m and a road surface width of 11m.

The route includes four interchanges, one of which connects to National Highway 3; three other interchanges have been identified and will be implemented when conditions permit: the interchange connecting to Thanh Binh Industrial Park will be invested in when the Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi expressway is fully upgraded; the interchange connecting to Thanh Mai - Thanh Van Industrial Park will be studied and implemented when the road connecting to the industrial park is invested in; and the interchange connecting to Bac Kan City (via the urban arterial road) will be studied and implemented when the urban arterial road is invested in and the Bac Kan - Cao Bang expressway is implemented.

With the aforementioned scale, the project has a total investment of VND 5,751 billion. The expected implementation time is from investment preparation in 2021 to basic completion in 2026.

Regarding funding sources and allocation plans, the Ministry of Transport anticipates allocating 4,804.3 billion VND during the 2021-2025 period. This includes 1,815.3 billion VND from the medium-term public investment plan of the state budget for the 2021-2025 period; 2,989 billion VND from increased revenue and savings in the central government's recurrent expenditures in 2022; and 946.7 billion VND carried over from the 2026-2030 period.

The Ministry of Transport assigns Project Management Board 2 the responsibility of leading and coordinating with relevant agencies to complete the project's feasibility study report for submission to competent authorities for approval in accordance with the Law on Public Investment and relevant laws, and to organize the project implementation ensuring progress, quality and efficiency.

Previously, the Ministry of Transport issued Decision No. 1676/QD-BGTVT dated September 14, 2021, approving the investment project for the construction of the Cho Moi - Bac Kan route with a scale of 2 lanes, a roadbed width of 12m, and a road surface width of 11m; the total estimated investment is 2,017 billion VND.

However, Notice No. 29/TB-VPCP dated February 15, 2023 and Notice No. 63/TB-VPCP dated March 2, 2023 announced the conclusions of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh regarding "not investing in 2-lane expressways because it would waste investment capital, be inefficiently operated, and require additional time and procedures for upgrading."

Following the Prime Minister's directive, the Ministry of Transport has instructed Project Management Board 2 and related units to prepare and submit a pre-feasibility study report on the project, upgrading it from a phased 2-lane road to a 4-lane expressway.

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