Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivers a speech at the 12th session of the Steering Committee (Photo: Tran Hai).

In his opening remarks at the session, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the 13th National Congress of the Party set a specific and important goal: to complete 3,000 km of expressways by 2025 and 5,000 km by 2030. This target is of great importance and significance because transportation in general, including expressways, airports, and seaports, creates new development spaces, new urban and service areas, increases land values, reduces logistics costs, and enhances the competitiveness of domestic, regional, and global goods.

The current government must establish a Steering Committee to oversee key transportation projects, thereby concretizing the guidelines and objectives of the 13th National Congress of the Party. In reality, the Steering Committee has been operating in accordance with its intended purpose, seriously and effectively; monthly meetings are held to discuss and resolve issues, ensuring project progress and quality, and addressing outstanding problems and obstacles during implementation. In fact, after each meeting, we have gradually resolved issues effectively and gained more experience.

The Prime Minister requested that the Chairpersons of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities actively attend all sessions, as this is an important task. The Prime Minister commended several provinces and cities for their active participation: the Party Secretaries and Chairpersons of the People's Committees have directly addressed the issues. Wherever the entire political system is involved, the results are very clear, and difficulties and obstacles are resolved; wherever there is negligence, problems remain.

The Prime Minister stated that, to date, key projects and works have achieved very encouraging results. For example, Long Thanh International Airport has taken shape very clearly; recently, we have mobilized 2 billion USD in domestic capital for this project; issues regarding capital, land, and materials have been resolved, and the focus now is on construction with 3 shifts and 4 teams. Projects such as Terminal 3 at Tan Son Nhat International Airport and the expansion of Terminal 2 at Noi Bai Airport are being actively implemented. Some localities that were reminded about land clearance work have shown positive progress.

The Prime Minister commended and highly appreciated the localities for implementing land clearance work on the North-South Expressway projects in the East during the 2021-2025 period. However, some localities still face obstacles in land clearance; and issues related to the supply of construction materials, such as the Can Tho-Bac Lieu Expressway where there are still reports of material shortages despite ample supply; the East-West Expressway (Soc Trang-Can Tho-Hau Giang-An Giang); and in some areas where sea sand has been used as leveling material, an objective and honest assessment of whether it has been affected by salinity is necessary. Media outlets must report accurately, neither sugarcoating nor distorting the facts.

We need to review where the localities are still facing difficulties and obstacles. After each meeting, we must resolve issues to promote projects more effectively with the spirit of "only discussing action, not retreating," "not saying no, not saying it's difficult, not saying yes without doing it," all for the development, strength, and prosperity of the country, placing national interests above all else; strictly handle cases of bid rigging, collusion, and bid selling; continue to inspect and handle negative practices in the buying and selling of raw materials, especially sand and gravel in the Mekong Delta; alongside promoting progress, we must resolutely address negative practices.

Contractors and local authorities facing material shortages must proactively and closely coordinate to resolve the issue, without waiting or relying on others. We must ensure quality, environmental hygiene, and pay attention to the landscape and space of completed projects; strengthen inspection and supervision to ensure the quality of construction, and absolutely prevent corruption and negative practices.

The Prime Minister requested that the entire political system be mobilized, citing the successful implementation of the 500kV Quang Trach-Pho Noi circuit 3 power line as an example. This demonstrates the strength of the nation, the entire political system, and the power of large state-owned corporations and enterprises.

The Prime Minister emphasized that, in the spirit of commemorating the 65th anniversary of the opening of the Ho Chi Minh Trail - the traditional day of the Truong Son Army (May 19, 1959 - May 19, 2024) that created the legend of "Barefoot, iron will," and "Cutting through the Truong Son Mountains to save the country," we must also perform our tasks well in the current much more favorable circumstances. Therefore, the Prime Minister requested that delegates frankly point out difficulties and obstacles, propose solutions, clearly state the responsibilities of each party, what the Central Government must do, and what the localities must do. The Prime Minister stated that from now until the end of 2025, 1,000km of expressways must be completed to achieve the target of 3,000km as set by the 13th National Congress of the Party.

We have accelerated the development of the highway system in the last 5 years to the same pace as in the previous 20 years, so in the next 5 years we must accelerate this pace even further. There is a lot of work to be done, requiring high determination, great effort, and decisive action. The Prime Minister stated that he will launch a campaign to achieve the goal of completing 3,000km of highways before December 31, 2025...

According to a report by the Ministry of Transport, the State Steering Committee for National Key Projects and Transport Sector Projects held 11 meetings; the Prime Minister - Head of the Steering Committee - issued 5 Decisions to reorganize membership and add projects to the list of projects under the Steering Committee, bringing the total to 40 projects out of 92 component projects (DATP) in 3 areas: road, rail, and aviation, projects passing through the territories of 48 provinces and cities.

The Prime Minister has issued numerous directives at meetings, working trips, and on-site inspections to resolve difficulties and obstacles, and assigned tasks to ministries, sectors, and localities to implement projects. Since the beginning of the term, 674km/2 projects/12 projects under the Steering Committee's project list have been completed, bringing the total length of expressways to approximately 2,000km. This has contributed to promoting socio-economic development, creating new development opportunities for localities where the projects pass through, and fostering trust, consensus, and support from the people in the implementation of investment projects to build transport infrastructure, laying the groundwork for achieving the goal of putting 3,000km of expressways into operation by 2025.

Regarding the progress of projects, the Ministry of Transport also stated: concerning the preparation and approval of pre-feasibility study reports, Ho Chi Minh City has reviewed, incorporated feedback, provided explanations, and finalized the dossier to submit to the Prime Minister for approval of the investment policy for the Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai expressway project. The Ministry of Transport and the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province have submitted to the National Assembly the investment policy for the Gia Nghia-Chon Thanh project and have addressed the discussion points raised by National Assembly deputies in their respective groups, so that the National Assembly can approve it in June 2024.

Regarding the preparation and approval of feasibility study reports: the provinces of Son La, Thai Binh, Ninh Binh, Lam Dong, Binh Duong, and the Ministry of Transport are currently preparing feasibility study reports for the Hoa Binh-Moc Chau, Ninh Binh-Hai Phong, Tan Phu-Bao Loc, Bao Loc-Lien Khuong, Ho Chi Minh City-Thu Dau Mot-Chon Thanh, and Dau Giay-Tan Phu expressways. Of these, three projects have been submitted to the inter-ministerial appraisal council; however, the appraisal of the Dau Giay-Tan Phu and Tan Phu-Bao Loc projects is progressing slowly. Son La and Lam Dong provinces are lagging in preparing feasibility study reports for the Hoa Binh-Moc Chau and Bao Loc-Lien Khuong projects.

Regarding land clearance, in accordance with the Prime Minister's directives at the Steering Committee meetings and in Official Dispatch No. 54/CĐ-TTg dated May 28, 2024, localities are mobilizing the entire political system to actively implement the handover of land for construction; however, the remaining area consists of residential land, making implementation difficult and hindering progress, especially in the provinces of Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa, Dak Lak, Tuyen Quang, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Hung Yen, and Kien Giang. Investors and units under the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) have made efforts to relocate high-voltage power lines; however, the progress in some projects is still slow, potentially affecting the project timelines.

Regarding construction materials: for projects in the Northern and Central regions, the supply of materials has basically met construction needs. For projects in the Southern region: following the Prime Minister's directive, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha led a working group to meet with local authorities and assigned the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to address the supply of construction materials for projects in the region. The Ministry of Transport has reported on the overall plan for the demand for leveling materials and the proposed coordination plan; currently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is coordinating with the Ministry of Transport to report to the Prime Minister on the plan for allocating and coordinating materials for each project, ensuring construction progress.

Regarding construction implementation: The Ministry of Transport is decisively directing contractors to actively implement the North-South Expressway Eastern section project (2021-2025), Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot, and Chon Thanh-Duc Hoa, with progress basically on schedule; however, the Can Tho-Ca Mau, Bien Hoa-Vung Tau, and Ho Chi Minh Highway sections from Rach Soi-Ben Nhat to Go Quao-Vinh Thuan are still behind schedule. In the coming time, when land acquisition and construction materials are resolved, investors and contractors will accelerate to compensate for the delays.

Construction progress in localities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hung Yen, Long An, Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, An Giang, Ha Giang, and Dong Thap is on track; progress in the remaining provinces is not meeting requirements due to obstacles related to construction sites and the supply of embankment materials.

Regarding the Long Thanh International Airport Project: Project 1: the headquarters of the Immigration Department (Ministry of Public Security) is being implemented according to schedule; the remaining headquarters are undergoing technical design and cost estimate approval as a basis for construction; Projects 2 and 3: are being implemented according to schedule; Project 4: is actively carrying out procedures for selecting investors.

The T3 passenger terminal project at Tan Son Nhat International Airport is being implemented according to the planned schedule.

Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway Project: the ongoing packages are on schedule, but package J3-1 has yet to select a contractor due to obstacles related to the contractor binding conditions of the loan agreement, posing a risk of not being completed on time.

The Nhon-Hanoi Station urban railway project is undergoing trial runs and completing related procedures, with commercial operation expected in July 2024. The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien urban railway project continues trial runs to facilitate system safety certification assessment, with commercial operation expected in the fourth quarter of 2024. Hoa Binh and Tien Giang provinces are behind schedule in developing technical designs and selecting contractors for the Hoa Binh-Moc Chau and Cao Lanh-An Huu projects…

According to nhandan.vn