Ministry of Construction proposes mechanism to remove difficulties for 11 BOT traffic projects

After the Ministry of Construction coordinated with the State Bank of Vietnam and localities to review all obstacles in BOT transport projects nationwide, a list of 11 projects with quantified obstacles was built, of which: the Ministry of Construction had 8 projects, and localities had 3 projects.

The Ministry of Construction also organized negotiations with investors and credit banks to agree on solutions (expected arrangement of State capital to pay to terminate contracts of 6 projects, additional State capital to support to continue implementing contracts of 5 projects), determine the shared responsibilities of the parties and complete the Project to Remove Obstacles of BOT Traffic Projects.

Previously, in 2024, when drafting the revised Law on Investment under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP Law), the Ministry of Construction proposed to add two policies (arranging State capital to pay for early termination of contracts and arranging State capital to support during the exploitation phase to continue implementing the contract), but the revised PPP Law (Law No. 57/2024/QH15) only added the policy of arranging State capital to pay for contract termination, while the policy of State capital participating in support during the exploitation phase to continue implementing the contract has not been added in the revised PPP Law.

According to the Ministry of Construction, for the group of projects that have terminated contracts and have sufficient legal basis for implementation, the competent authority shall preside over determining the value of State capital and report to the competent authority to arrange capital for payment. As for the group of projects that supplement State capital to support the exploitation phase to continue implementing the contract, because the revised PPP Law does not have this policy, it must be submitted to the National Assembly for promulgation of a Resolution or supplemented to the PPP Law to have a legal basis for implementation.

On April 9, 2025, the Ministry of Construction continued to preside over and coordinate with the State Bank of Vietnam to organize a negotiation meeting with relevant parties. The results for the group of 5/11 projects with State capital to participate in support to continue implementing the contract, basically investors and credit institutions agreed on the risk sharing mechanism.

For group 6/11 projects with State capital to pay for contract termination, some investors proposed to reduce only a part of the profit. All credit institutions proposed not to retroactively pay the interest that investors have paid to the bank, reducing a part of the interest, which is not appropriate.

Previously, the Government had submitted Document No. 169/TTr-CP dated April 5, 2025 to the National Assembly Standing Committee to adjust the 2025 legislative program, including the plan to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Bidding and the Law on PPP.

If the provisions on State capital participation and support for the exploitation phase are added to the revised PPP Law, the leaders of the Ministry of Construction believe that it will be sufficient to remove obstacles for all 11 BOT projects and potential projects.

Pursuant to the direction of the Government Standing Committee in Notice No. 270/TB-VPCP on studying and supplementing the amendment of the PPP Law to remove obstacles for BOT transport projects, based on the opinions of a number of National Assembly Deputies, the Ministry of Construction proposed that the Prime Minister allow the addition of the provision "State capital participating in and supporting BOT projects in the exploitation phase" in the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Bidding and the Law on PPP to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 9th Session.

The Ministry of Construction will closely coordinate with the Government Office, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Justice to promptly advise the Government to complete the draft Law, and at the same time, to unify the responsibility for sharing, ensuring that no precedent is created, no exploitation or profiteering of policies under the direction of the Government Standing Committee. The Ministry of Construction will continue to update and complete the Project to remove obstacles in a number of BOT traffic projects, and submit it to the Government for consideration and approval.

The list of 11 projects facing difficulties and obstacles that need to be handled includes 8 projects for which the Ministry of Construction is the competent state agency: BOT project of National Highway 1, Thanh Hoa city bypass section (including the Eastern bypass and the Western bypass section from Km0 - Km6); Project to build Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi (Bac Kan) route and renovate and upgrade National Highway 3 section from Km75 - Km100 under the form of BOT contract; BOT project to upgrade and expand Ho Chi Minh road, section from Km1738+148 - Km1763+610, Dak Lak province; BOT project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 91, section from Km14 - Km50+889; BOT project to renovate and upgrade Saigon river channel from Binh Loi bridge to Ben Suc port; BOT project to build Viet Tri - Ba Vi bridge; BOT project to build Thai Ha bridge; BOT project to build a road tunnel through Deo Ca Pass.

3 projects with local authorities as competent State agencies: Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway Project under BOT form (People's Committee of Lang Son province); BOT project to build An Hai bridge (People's Committee of Phu Yen province); BOT project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 39B and the Thanh Ne town bypass section (People's Committee of Thai Binh province).

(According to Tin Tuc Newspaper)

Source: https://baoyenbai.com.vn/12/349226/Bo-Xay-dung-de-xuat-co-che-go-kho-cho-11-du-an-BOT-giao-thong.aspx