Unable to establish public ownership of assets of BOT Project National Highway 51

There are still 3 issues that have not reached consensus between the investor and the Vietnam Road Administration regarding the termination of the BOT project contract to invest in expanding National Highway 51.

There are still 3 issues that have not reached consensus between the investor and the Vietnam Road Administration regarding the termination of the BOT project contract to invest in expanding National Highway 51.

A section of Highway 51.

The Ministry of Finance has just sent an official dispatch to the Ministry of Transport in response to the proposal to establish public ownership of assets of the National Highway 51 expansion investment project, section Km0+900-Km73+600, in Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces under the BOT form (National Highway 51 BOT Project).

According to the Ministry of Finance, the National Highway 51 BOT Project currently has some outstanding issues and is continuing to work and negotiate with investors to resolve them, such as: equity preservation fees; toll collection time to generate profits for the Project; negotiations to terminate the contract before the deadline.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance said that there is not enough basis for the ministry to comment on the establishment of public ownership of assets transferred from the investor of the National Highway 51 BOT Project.

“The Ministry of Transport is requested to direct the Vietnam Road Administration and relevant units to thoroughly resolve the remaining issues of the project to terminate the BOT contract of the National Highway 51 BOT Project in accordance with the provisions of the law on investment in the form of public-private partnership; on that basis, an official opinion is sent to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and comments according to regulations,” the official dispatch of the Ministry of Finance said.

Previously, the Ministry of Transport sent a dispatch to the Ministry of Finance requesting that the ministry soon establish public ownership of the assets of the National Highway 51 BOT Project.

The Ministry of Transport said that the management and maintenance of the main route of National Highway 51 is very urgent; at the same time, road traffic infrastructure assets are special assets, serving public purposes, people's livelihood, economic development and ensuring national security and defense... in any circumstances and conditions, the State management agency must organize the management and exploitation of assets to ensure continuous, smooth and safe traffic.

“Therefore, the Ministry of Transport continues to request the Ministry of Finance to unify the establishment of public ownership of the assets that have been handed over by the project enterprise to the Vietnam Road Administration to support competent State agencies to promptly organize and implement the management, maintenance and exploitation of assets according to regulations,” the leader of the Ministry of Transport proposed.

This is the third time in the past 6 months that the Ministry of Finance has been asked to establish public ownership of the assets of the BOT project to expand National Highway 51 in Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces.

It is known that the investor has requested to temporarily suspend project maintenance work on these assets and hand over the Project assets to the Vietnam Road Administration by the end of January 2023.

By April 19, 2023, the Project investor BVEC had handed over 72.7 km including the road length and bridge length over 25 m belonging to the section from Km0+900-Km73+600 National Highway 51 to the Vietnam Road Administration.

However, the investor has not yet handed over the operator house, toll collection system, as well as other assets serving the Project. To ensure the continuous management, maintenance and exploitation of transport infrastructure assets, ensure traffic safety, and protect and extend the exploitation time of transport infrastructure assets, the Vietnam Road Administration has received the assets handed over by BVEC to carry out the management, maintenance and preservation of assets.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/chua-the-xac-lap-quyen-so-huu-toan-dan-tai-san-du-an-bot-quoc-lo-51-d230338.html