Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh gave the order to start construction of the Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway.

Also attending were comrade Do Van Chien, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. Representatives of leaders of a number of ministries, branches and central agencies.

Cao Bang Province is the competent State agency to implement the project. The consortium of Deo Ca Group - ICV Vietnam Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company - Deo Ca Transport Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company (HHV) - Construction Joint Stock Company 568 is the investor of the project under the PPP form, BOT contract according to Decision No. 1629/QD-UBND of the People's Committee of Cao Bang Province.

The Dong Dang - Tra Linh Expressway is 93.35km long, starting at the Tan Thanh border gate intersection - Van Lang district - Lang Son province and ending at the National Highway 3 intersection in Chi Thao commune - Quang Hoa district - Cao Bang province; the total investment for the phase is 14,331 billion VND, the implementation period is 36 months.
The project is divided into 2 investment phases. In phase 1, the expressway is implemented according to TCVN 5729-2012 standards, with a design speed of 80 km/h and a roadbed cross-section width of 17m for normal sections and 13.5m for complex sections.

This expressway is not only a lever to promote socio-economic development, contributing to strengthening national defense and security, connecting Cao Bang with border provinces, with economic, political, cultural and international centers. The Party Committee and people of Cao Bang identify the Dong Dang-Tra Linh expressway as a key project of the province - with new roads, we can escape poverty.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and other leaders performed the ceremony to press the button to start the project. (Photo: Thanh Giang)

The road is also the aspiration of many generations of ethnic minorities in Cao Bang province. The entire political system of the province through many terms has been strongly involved so that the project can be implemented as soon as possible.

Initially, the Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway project, planned by the Ministry of Transport, was 144km long, with a total investment of over 47,000 billion VND. This is a very difficult project in terms of technical factors due to the rugged terrain, especially the very large investment rate, low traffic volume leading to a difficult capital recovery problem. Many domestic and foreign investors have been interested and researched but have not been able to implement it yet.

With investment capacity and experience in organizing and solving many difficult and complicated projects in terms of technology, finance, and law, Deo Ca Group has proposed a plan to adjust the route with 4 tunnels through the mountains and overpasses across the valley, shortening the route length by 23km to 121km, with a total investment of nearly 23,000 billion VND for both phases, more than half of the original plan.

Investors must continue to have more optimal solutions, including applying the PPP+ model, which is drawn from many years of experience in investing and constructing key transport projects in Vietnam by Deo Ca Group. The PPP+ model is a solution to mobilize capital for the project from state budget capital, credit capital, bond capital, especially investor capital. In addition, secondary investors are also general contractors for design - construction (EC), or design - equipment supply - construction (EPC) with capacity and experience.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh listens to an introduction to the road tunnel structure model on the Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway. (Photo: Thanh Giang)

According to Decision No. 106/2023/QH15 dated November 28, 2023, the proportion of state budget capital participating in the project shall not exceed 70% of the total investment of the project. Based on the calculation of the financial plan and the suitability with the feasibility to be able to arrange capital but ensure maximum savings for the state budget, the People's Committee of Cao Bang province proposed the participating budget capital of about 9,800 billion VND (accounting for 68.76% of the total investment).

Investors have fully arranged the capital mobilized by more than 4,451 billion VND (accounting for 31.24% of the total investment), in which VPBank has agreed to provide a credit source of 2,500 billion VND for the project.

Cao Bang province has cut 22 public investment projects, concentrated resources, and increased local budget participation from VND2,500 billion to VND4,080 billion.

In this project, Deo Ca Group will cooperate with universities and vocational schools to improve workers' skills, practical ability, technology application for engineers and summarize standard management and construction models for businesses. The application of digital technology, BIM model to control site clearance, transparency in design, cost optimization; codes of conduct, first aid will be organized and regularly practiced at the construction site.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deo Ca Group Ho Minh Hoang emphasized that the Group considers this project as a "training ground" for training and scientific research, a place where Vietnamese enterprises apply new technologies and management methods, thereby improving the capacity and "real-life" experience of the staff (workers will improve their skills, engineers will have the ability to practically apply technology; management will be more transparent in investment management, construction and project settlement). The investment and construction solutions applied at Dong Dang - Tra Linh Expressway are drawn from many years of experience implementing difficult projects of Deo Ca Group.

On behalf of the consortium of investors, Deo Ca Group promises the Government and the people to carry out the project with the spirit of "overcoming the sun and rain", "only moving forward, not retreating", "saying is doing and committing to doing it effectively" as the spirit that the Prime Minister has directed to spread in the transport sector in recent times...

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh witnessed corporations donating money to build solidarity houses for local people. (Photo: Thanh Giang)

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that in the exciting atmosphere of the first day of the new year 2024, we have completed the goals and tasks of 2023, basically achieved the set general goals, most areas have made new progress, laying the foundation for implementing the tasks of 2024 with a new mindset and firm belief.

The Prime Minister was very pleased to join the leaders of the central and local departments, ministries and branches in the historic land of Thach An district, Cao Bang province, where more than 73 years ago, the first large-scale offensive campaign of the Vietnam People's Army took place, winning victory and opening a new turning point for the resistance war of the Vietnamese people, especially the Dien Bien Phu Victory that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world" afterwards. Continuing and promoting the tradition of the revolutionary homeland, today, we officially started the investment project to build the Dong Dang (Lang Son province) - Tra Linh (Cao Bang province) expressway (phase 1).

The Prime Minister stated that 2024 will still face many difficulties, but with a new spirit, a new mindset, a heroic revolutionary tradition, the leadership of the Party, and the participation of the people, we believe that we will have new successes. The Prime Minister emphasized that the Party and the State have made many important decisions on socio-economic development, focusing on implementing three strategic breakthroughs to achieve the development goals by 2030: becoming a developing country with modern industry and high average income, and by 2045 becoming a developed country with high income according to the goals set out in the Resolution of the 13th National Congress.

The project will create socio-economic development, national defense and security and maintain national border sovereignty.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh

To concretize the policies of the Party and the State, we have devoted a lot of resources to investing in infrastructure development, especially transport infrastructure with many expressway projects that have been and are being implemented to connect the whole country, connecting regions, including the Dong Dang (Lang Son province) - Tra Linh (Cao Bang province) expressway construction investment project. This is the largest-scale transport infrastructure construction investment project invested in Cao Bang province up to now, and is the earnest desire of generations of leaders and people of Cao Bang province. Only by implementing this project can we repay the sacrifices and contributions of the people in the old war zone.

The project will create socio-economic development, national defense and security and maintain national border sovereignty. Create a new vital foreign highway connecting trade goods from Lach Huyen International Port (Hai Phong) to Chongqing - Urumqi (China) - Khorgos (Kazakhstan) to European countries, contributing to improving the competitiveness of the economy, creating momentum for socio-economic development of Cao Bang, Lang Son provinces and the Northeast region.

To be able to start the project today, we had to work together to handle a large amount of work with many difficulties and problems, such as in planning, establishing and adjusting the project, appraisal, approval, and capital arrangement, which can be listed as follows:

Firstly, the initial planning of the project was not really suitable to grasp the opportunities and exploit the development potential of the locality, and did not really meet the aspirations and expectations of the people of Cao Bang, requiring a more timely adjustment of the implementation time; we are determined to start the project right now instead of having to wait until after 2030 as originally planned.

Second, the project is being implemented in the legal phase, and policies on investment projects under the public-private partnership model have changed, especially since this is one of the projects implemented under the BOT model, public-private partnership investment after the PPP Law took effect. Therefore, during the implementation process, there must be flexible adjustments that are suitable for practice but still ensure compliance with the current legal framework and institutions. According to the Prime Minister, any problems must be resolved.

Third, the project was implemented in a context where capital mobilization outside the budget was very difficult; capital mobilization channels, credit, bonds, etc. were all tightened, leading to the need for timely adjustments to the participation of public investment capital to increase project efficiency and increase the attraction of capital mobilization from investors and financial institutions for the project.

Fourth, the project is being implemented in a context where many civil servants are reluctant to take responsibility, avoid responsibility, and push responsibility away, leading to a delay in the implementation of investment procedures.

Fifth, this is a highway project with a length of over 93km, passing through an inter-provincial area with complex terrain, geology, and hydrology; when drawing the route, we must try to draw the route as "straight as possible"; "crossing rivers and streams, we must build bridges, crossing mountains, we must dig tunnels, and crossing fields, we must fill them with soil"; the project needs to have many solutions to attract traffic to ensure future revenue when implemented under the BOT contract form.

However, the most important thing is that those difficulties have been studied and proposed by the two provinces of Cao Bang and Lang Son, and the Government, ministries, central agencies, the State Appraisal Council, and relevant units have joined hands to resolve them, creatively, flexibly, and effectively applying current mechanisms and policies.

On this occasion, on behalf of the Government, the Prime Minister commended the Party Committee, authorities, army and people of Cao Bang and Lang Son provinces, relevant ministries, branches, Deo Ca Group, and relevant units for overcoming many difficulties, always innovating and creating, "overcoming the sun and conquering the rain", completing a huge amount of work in the process of preparing the project; synchronously establishing the project management area; commending and thanking the people for giving up land for the project.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh inspects a concrete structure sample to be constructed at the expressway project. (Photo: Thanh Giang)

The Prime Minister emphasized that from the results and significance of today's Project, it further strengthens our valuable experiences in implementing socio-economic development goals in general and infrastructure development in particular, in which: resources come from thinking, motivation comes from innovation, strength comes from the people; promoting decentralization and delegation of power along with allocating implementation resources, improving implementation capacity and strengthening inspection, supervision and urging; promoting self-reliance, self-strengthening, self-rising from one's own hands and brains, daring to think, daring to do, being proactive, timely, not waiting or relying; in the process of organizing implementation, especially when encountering difficulties and obstacles, the ideology must be clear, the determination must be high, the effort must be great, the action must be drastic and effective, and each task must be completed; strengthening coordination between ministries, branches, localities, and agencies in the political system; seeking the support and participation of the people.

In the coming time, the Prime Minister requested that if we have tried, we must try harder, if we are determined, we must be even more determined; investors, contractors, and related ministries, branches, and localities must expand phase 1 from 2 lanes to 4 lanes; learn from experiences of other expressway projects, and must do it immediately. Cao Bang and Lang Son provinces must strictly implement legal regulations and Party policies; encourage people to give up land for the project, ensuring that people's lives in new places are equal to or better than their old places; closely coordinate with ministries, branches, proactively and actively; ministries and branches must also closely coordinate with investors and contractors.

The Government, together with localities, investors and contractors, strive to resolve difficulties wherever they arise, and strengthen supervision, inspection and supervision.

For investors and contractors, the Prime Minister suggested implementing the PPP+ model, the BIM management model, while working, gaining experience to implement other projects; strengthening human resource training not only for Deo Ca but also with the two localities of Cao Bang and Lang Son, building a human resource training center, continuing to thoroughly implement "overcoming the sun, overcoming the rain", "eating quickly, sleeping urgently", working through holidays and Tet, constructing "3 shifts, 4 shifts", ensuring the right progress, quality, not exceeding the total investment, ensuring construction safety, environmental sanitation, contributing to improving the material and spiritual life of people in the project area; each construction item and intersection needs to be designed with traditional cultural identity, creating beautiful architectural landscapes.

Consultants and supervisors must comply with legal regulations and support the development process; expect businesses to participate in the project as a general contractor but mobilize many contractors, with the goal of opening this expressway with 4 lanes by the end of 2025 and early 2026; research to connect this expressway to Tra Linh border gate.

The Prime Minister believes that with the heroic revolutionary tradition of the two provinces of Cao Bang and Lang Son, and with the efforts and participation of ministries and branches, the project will be completed on schedule and with quality; calling the project implementation campaign the "Dong Khe Campaign 2024".

* On the morning of January 1, during his working program in Cao Bang province, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited and inspected the operations of the Cao Bang Iron and Steel Factory in Chu Trinh commune, Cao Bang city.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visits Cao Bang Iron and Steel Factory. (Photo: Thanh Giang)

The factory is located in the Cao Bang Iron and Steel Complex with a total investment of 1,911 billion VND. This is a project that applies advanced production technology, including a sintering plant complex with a capacity of 399,200 tons of sintered iron ore/year; a blast furnace with a capacity of 179 m3 and a capacity of 219,000 tons of pig iron water/year; and a steel converter with a designed capacity of 25 tons/batch.

The total designed capacity of the factory is 221,600 tons of steel billets/year, with estimated revenue of 1,500 billion VND/year. The complex is designed to ensure environmental safety and hygiene, and when put into production, will provide jobs for 1,500 workers at the factory.

In addition, the Company has completed the exploration and report work, submitted it to the Mineral Reserves Assessment Council for approval of the Na Rua iron mine reserves; and prepared an investment report for open-pit mining.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited and presented gifts to encourage staff and workers of Cao Bang Iron and Steel Factory.

Na Rua iron mine exploitation project in Tan Giang ward, Cao Bang town with total reserves of more than 16,700 thousand tons of iron ore, exploitation output of 350,000 tons of iron ore concentrate/year, providing a stable and quality source of raw materials for the Iron and Steel Complex, solving the labor needs of more than 500 workers.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-phat-lenh-khoi-cong-tuyen-cao-toc-dong-dang-tra-linh-post790176.html