Institute of Transport Strategy and Development celebrates 50th anniversary

Leading agency for scientific and technological research and innovation.

Speaking at the anniversary ceremony, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang acknowledged, commended, and highly appreciated the contributions and dedication of generations of leaders, officials, and employees who have worked at the Institute over the past 50 years.

Particularly from 2021 to the present, the transport sector has focused on implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the Party, which identifies the development of synchronous and modern infrastructure as one of the three strategic breakthroughs, and as a driving force to achieve the goal of making Vietnam a developing country with upper-middle income by 2030 and a developed country with high income by 2045.

The Minister highly appreciated the Institute's active role in leading and collaborating with agencies and units of the Ministry, overcoming all difficulties, and developing and submitting to the Prime Minister for approval five specialized transport planning documents in the fields of road, rail, inland waterway, maritime, and aviation, one year earlier than required by the Government; coordinating with ministries, sectors, and localities to develop the national master plan, economic zone plans, and provincial plans, as a basis for implementing investment in the development of a synchronous and modern transport infrastructure system.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang highly appreciated the role and contributions of the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development over its 50 years of growth to the development of Vietnam's transport sector (Photo: Ta Hai).

Implementing the strategies and plans set forth for the transportation sector, many important national transportation projects have been and are being invested in, constructed, upgraded, and renovated, such as: the North-South expressway; the Lach Huyen and Cai Mep-Thi Vai international seaports; Long Thanh International Airport; upgrading and renovating Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat international airports; and key national highways, gradually forming a modern, synchronous, safe infrastructure network connecting all regions of the country, with countries in the region and around the world .

"In 2023, Vietnam's infrastructure quality index, primarily transportation infrastructure, rose to 52nd out of 185 countries, an increase of 14 places compared to 2019. These results would not have been possible without the significant contributions of the Institute for Transport Strategy and Development," the Minister emphasized.

In recognition of the contributions of the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang presented a banner from the Ministry of Transport with the inscription: "Promoting the tradition of 50 years of building, striving and developing (July 4, 1974 - July 4, 2024)".

Regarding future tasks, the Minister requested the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development to uphold its traditions, work together with the Ministry of Transport and the entire sector to overcome all difficulties and challenges, and complete its tasks in the period from now until 2030 and beyond, resolutely implementing the successful investment and development of a synchronous and modern transport infrastructure system, contributing to the successful achievement of the goals of the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Accordingly, we will continue to uphold the spirit of solidarity, perseverance, and unwavering determination to overcome all difficulties and challenges, striving to build the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development into the leading agency in scientific research, technology, and innovation of the Ministry of Transport in the field of transport strategy, planning, and policy development.

Continue to improve the organizational structure and propose effective mechanisms to attract and develop high-quality human resources; form strong research groups to develop core competencies in building and analyzing databases, forecasting transportation demand; economic and financial analysis capabilities in transportation; measuring, reporting, and verifying greenhouse gas emissions in transportation; high-speed rail and electrified rail, etc., to meet the requirements of transportation sector development and international integration.

The Institute needs to proactively propose and closely coordinate with agencies, units, and organizations to effectively and promptly implement advisory tasks for the Ministry, especially regarding the drafting of legal documents, strategic projects, plans, policy mechanisms, the development of norms, standards, and technical specifications for the transportation sector; the roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas and methane emissions, developing green transportation; and mechanisms and policies for managing, exploiting, pricing, and fees for transportation infrastructure and public transport projects invested in by the State.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang presents the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development with a banner from the Ministry of Transport (Photo: Ta Hai).

The Minister also requested the Institute to continue strengthening and expanding cooperation with domestic and international science and technology organizations; to participate in and run for leadership positions in UNESCAP, APEC, and ASEAN working groups/subgroups to enhance Vietnam's role and position; and to participate in and lead the development of training programs and the development of high-quality human resources for the transport sector.

Fundamentally and comprehensively reforming scientific and technological research and innovation; improving the quality and diversifying scientific and technological services, consulting and technology transfer on issues related to urban traffic congestion control, traffic organization plans, urban public passenger transport development, development of environmentally friendly green vehicles, and the system of unit prices and economic-technical norms serving management, transport operation and exploitation.

"In the immediate future, the Institute needs to focus its resources on leading research and finalizing the Project on the Development of Vietnam's Railway Industry, the Project on Infrastructure Fees and Ticketing Policy for the North-South High-Speed ​​Railway Line. It should also participate in coordinating with agencies and units of the Ministry to finalize and submit to competent authorities for consideration and approval the Project on the North-South High-Speed ​​Railway and the Project on Investment and Construction of Urban Railways in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City."

"At the same time, we must urgently research and upgrade the national transport demand forecasting model, linking it with the calculation of greenhouse gas and methane emissions from the transport sector, in accordance with the roadmap for implementing Decision 876 of the Prime Minister," Minister Nguyen Van Thang proposed.

Building upon the tradition of 50 years of construction and development.

Recalling the 50-year tradition of construction and development, Mr. Khuat Viet Hung, Director of the Institute, said that on July 4, 1974, the Government Council signed Decision No. 158/CP stipulating the "organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport". In this decision, the Institute of Transport Planning and the Institute of Transport Economics were agencies and units under the Ministry of Transport.

Director Khuat Viet Hung delivered a speech reviewing the 50-year history of the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development (Photo: Ta Hai).

During the period from its early days until before the reforms, facing difficulties and shortages in infrastructure and resources across the country and the entire sector, the officials, staff, and workers of the Institute of Transport Planning and the Institute of Transport Economics (later merged into the Institute of Transport Economics and Planning) made their utmost efforts, upholding the pioneering spirit of the transport sector during the two wars of resistance, and successfully completed their assigned tasks. The Institute also carried out scientific research on transport planning, policy mechanisms, and economic-technical standards to serve the management, operation, production, business, and development of the transport sector.

Thanks to its perseverance and tireless efforts over the past 50 years, the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development has been honored with the Second Class Labor Medal by the President of Vietnam; and numerous commendations from the Party Committee of the Central Agencies Bloc, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

Besides key projects serving the planning work of the transport sector, such as the General Plan for Transport Development until 2000, the Institute has carried out many research tasks in the field of reforming management mechanisms in the transport sector to implement and concretize the guidelines and policies of the Party and the State in the transport sector.

Entering the period of reform, the Institute was entrusted by the Ministry of Transport with many important tasks such as: Researching the overall transport development plan to serve the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country under the State-level program 1996-2000; Developing the transport development strategy until 2020; and the transport development strategy for rural and mountainous areas. Along with that, it was responsible for developing policies and mechanisms such as: mobilizing and utilizing capital to develop transport infrastructure, policies and mechanisms to create an environment to ensure healthy competition in transport; and researching the application of multimodal transport in Vietnam…

On November 2, 1996, the Minister of Transport signed Decision No. 2926 renaming the Institute of Transport Economics to the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development. In the spirit of openness and international integration, the Institute was assigned by the Ministry as the focal point for coordinating with international organizations to conduct strategic research and transport planning at an international level.

Typical examples include the comprehensive development of Vietnam's transport system with studies VITRANSS1 (2000) and VITRANSS 2 (2010); and the master plan for urban transport networks for Hanoi (HAIDEP 2007) and Ho Chi Minh City (HOUTRANS 2004), funded by JICA… Through these activities, the Institute has acquired and mastered hardware and software, and trained a team of transport planning and demand forecasting experts with qualifications comparable to those in other countries in the region.

The Institute has been entrusted by the Ministry to research many important strategies and plans for the industry. Particularly in the period from 2021 to the present, the Institute has led the development of development scenarios and forecasts of transportation demand for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050. This served as the basis for collaborating with other agencies of the Ministry to research and submit to the Prime Minister for approval five national-level sectoral plans for five specialized transportation sectors (road, expressways, railways, inland waterways, seaports, and airports) for the period up to 2030 and with a vision to 2050.

Along with strategic planning and development projects, the Institute is tasked with leading research on the project "Construction and management of the exploitation and maintenance of transport infrastructure systems to meet the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution"; the project to build 5,000km of expressways according to the Party's policy by 2030; research on developing norms for routine maintenance of expressways; and developing economic and technical norms for the exploitation, transportation, and construction of sea sand as embankment material…

Delegates pose for a commemorative photo with generations of leaders and staff of the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development (Photo: Ta Hai).

The Institute also led research for the Ministry of Transport to submit to the Prime Minister for approval the Action Program on green energy transition, reducing carbon and methane emissions in the transport sector; the Ministry of Transport issued the Ministry of Transport's Green Growth Action Plan for the period 2021-2030..., contributing to fulfilling Vietnam's commitment at COP26 to bring net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

In addition to its professional duties, the Institute has actively participated in international cooperation activities, affirming the role of the Ministry of Transport in bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

"In the period from now until 2030 and beyond, the Ministry of Transport and the entire sector will continue to fulfill the crucial responsibility of making breakthroughs in investment and construction of transport infrastructure according to the objectives set out in the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the Party; developing a green transport system with a commitment to net carbon emissions of zero for the transport sector by 2050."

"The Institute for Transport Strategy and Development is fully aware of its responsibility in carrying out scientific and technological research tasks; advising on the development of strategies, plans, and policies for transport development and management to work together with the Ministry and the entire sector to achieve the country's major goals," Director Khuat Viet Hung emphasized.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/vien-chien-luoc-va-phat-trien-gtvt-ky-niem-50-nam-thanh-lap-192240704124622876.htm