Favorable signal for expanding Yen Bai - Lao Cai expressway with capital of 7,668 billion VND

The Government Office has just issued Official Dispatch No. 4003/VPCP - CN to the Ministries of Finance, Construction, and Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) conveying the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on investing in expanding the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway.

Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister agreed in principle and assigned the Ministry of Finance to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and VEC to clarify whether the project is feasible or not (in which it is necessary to affirm and commit to the project management capacity and financial capacity of VEC to implement the investment project to expand the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway).

These contents must be completed and reported to the Prime Minister before May 15, 2025.

Previously, in April 2025, the Ministry of Construction sent a document to the Government leaders regarding investment in expanding the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway.

Specifically, the Ministry of Construction proposed that the Government approve the policy of allocating capital to increase central budget revenue in 2024 to participate in project investment and assign VEC as the competent agency to implement the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section expansion investment project of the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway.

Assign the Ministry of Finance to review and balance the decision on the allocation ratio of capital sources to increase central budget revenue in 2024 for the project based on principles, criteria, and balancing capacity of this capital source.

The Ministry of Finance was also recommended to direct VEC to review and specifically calculate the financial plan in case VEC mobilizes capital to invest in expanding the Noi Bai - Lao Cai, Cau Gie - Ninh Binh, Long Thanh - Dau Giay expressways, ensuring the ability to mobilize capital to invest in the above expressways; the ability to repay the Government's ODA capital, the feasibility of the financial plan of each project in particular and the 5 projects currently managed and operated by VEC; and the conformity with the plan to increase charter capital for the period 2024 - 2026 approved by competent authorities.

VEC is responsible to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance for the enterprise's production and business investment plan; the progress and quality of projects assigned for investment and construction; responsible for developing a specific plan to implement the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section expansion investment project to start construction in 2025; carefully assessing the disbursement capacity in 2025 to propose appropriate capital sources to increase central budget revenue in 2024.

It is known that the Road Network Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, has determined that the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway will be 264 km long and have 6 lanes.

Currently, the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway, 245 km long, has been invested by VEC and has been collecting tolls since 2014, of which the Noi Bai - Yen Bai section has a scale of 4 lanes; the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section has a scale of 2 lanes (the land has been cleared, the roadbed has been constructed to reach a scale of 4 lanes). The toll collection period for the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway is 27 years (expected to end in 2041).

The Noi Bai - Lao Cai route is a radial expressway, which has been in operation for over 10 years. The Yen Bai - Lao Cai route is currently operating with a scale of 2 lanes, without a median strip, so traffic capacity is limited. When the number of vehicles increases, there will be potential traffic safety risks for people and vehicles traveling on the route, especially on weekends, holidays and Tet.

According to VEC, the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section previously had a scale of 2 lanes from Km123+080 - Km244+155, about 121 km long. During the investment and exploitation process, some sections were expanded to a scale of 4 lanes, about 40 km long. Thus, the remaining scope of research and investment to expand the Yen Bai - Lao Cai expressway section is about 83 km.

Because the Noi Bai - Yen Bai section currently has a complete 4-lane expressway scale, VEC proposed to invest in expanding the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section to a 4-lane scale to exploit the scale synchronously with the Noi Bai - Yen Bai section and in accordance with the existing ground conditions, speeding up the project investment progress.

It is estimated that the total investment for the Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway expansion project, Yen Bai - Lao Cai section, to a complete 4-lane scale, is about 7,668 billion VND.

In Document No. 726/VEC-TCKT dated March 21, 2025, VEC proposed the capital structure for the Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway Expansion Project, Yen Bai - Lao Cai section, including: state budget capital of VND 3,055 billion (about 40% of total investment), VEC mobilized capital of VND 4,613 billion (about 60% of total investment); interest during construction (expected 9%/year) is VND 622 billion.

The toll collection period to recover the capital mobilized by VEC is about 20 years (expected to end in 2045).

VEC said that the capital mobilization plan for the Project was calculated based on the plan to increase charter capital for the 2024 - 2026 period for VEC, which was approved by the National Assembly in Resolution No. 191/2025/QH15 dated February 19, 2025.

(According to Investment Newspaper)

Source: https://baoyenbai.com.vn/12/350119/Tin-hieu-thuan-cho-viec-mo-rong-cao-toc-Yen-Bai---Lao-Cai-von-7668-ty-dong.aspx