Gradually develop a scenario to upgrade the divergent highway

Although only at the initial information, the capital needs and necessary policy mechanisms to upgrade the diverging expressways to 4 lanes have been clarified by many localities.

Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho expressway connects with Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway

Eager to improve

Up to now, the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province is the most enthusiastic and proactive governing body in investing and upgrading the expressway routes to full scale. In less than a month, this locality has sent two proposals to the Prime Minister and relevant ministries and branches.

Although Tuyen Quang is a small locality in the northern midland and mountainous region, the People's Committee of this province takes on the role of the managing agency of two large expressway projects using state budget capital: Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho expressway connecting with Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway and Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway (phase I), the section passing through Tuyen Quang province.

In particular, the Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho Expressway Construction Project connecting with Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway has a length of 40.2 km, the investment scale of the phased phase is limited to 4 lanes, the roadbed width is 17 m, the road surface is 14 m wide, the emergency stop strip is arranged intermittently. This project with a total investment of 3,753 billion VND has been completed and put into temporary operation since December 24, 2023.

Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (Phase I), the section through Tuyen Quang province has a length of 69.7 km, the investment scale is 2 lanes for motor vehicles, cross-section of 12 m, on the route there are overtaking positions with a distance of 2.2 km to 9.81 km/position, similar to the North - South Expressway, Cam Lo - La Son section.

With the above construction scale, the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (Phase I), the section through Tuyen Quang province, has a total investment of 6,800 billion VND. This project is in the final stage of construction to be completed by the end of 2025.

In Official Dispatch No. 858/UBND-DTXD sent to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Planning and Investment last weekend, Mr. Nguyen Van Son, Chairman of the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province, affirmed that the early upgrading of the Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho expressway connecting with the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway and the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway, the section passing through Tuyen Quang province according to the planning scale (4 standard lanes) will not only contribute to promoting the local socio-economic development, but also improve the efficiency of operation and safety for traffic participants.

According to the calculation of the governing body, the preliminary cost to upgrade the Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho expressway connecting with Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway to a scale of 4 standard lanes, a 25.25 m wide roadbed and an intelligent traffic management system is about 3,200 billion VND.

Because the Project passes through the territory of Tuyen Quang (11.3 km) and Phu Tho (28.9 km), the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province proposed to decentralize Tuyen Quang province to be the project management agency for the section in Tuyen Quang province and decentralize Phu Tho province to be the project management agency for the section in Phu Tho province.

In addition, to have resources to fully implement the Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho expressway connecting with Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway with a scale of 4 complete lanes with a roadbed width of 25.25 m, this locality proposed that the Government allocate the entire budget worth 3,200 billion VND from the central budget for the 2 provinces to implement.

For the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway, the section through Tuyen Quang province, the estimated investment cost to upgrade this expressway to a complete 4-lane expressway with a width of 25.25 m as approved in the plan is about 7,437 billion VND. The investment capital will be covered by the central budget.

Regarding the implementation plan, the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province proposed that the competent authority allow the continued implementation of the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (Phase I), the section passing through Tuyen Quang province according to the approved documents; at the same time, carry out investment procedures for a new project, the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (Phase II), the section passing through Tuyen Quang province, with the expected start date being October 2024.

Previously, in mid-February 2024, the People's Committee of Ha Giang province also sent Document No. 05/TTr - UBND to the Prime Minister on the investment policy to complete the scale of 4 lanes, Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (Phase I), section through Ha Giang province.

Specifically, the People's Committee of Ha Giang province proposed the head of the Government to approve the adjustment of the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (Phase I), the section passing through Ha Giang province, to expand to a scale that meets the standards of 4 lanes with a route length of 27.48 km, with a total investment after adjustment of 5,073 billion VND. Of which, the Phase I Project (2 lanes) has approved 3,198 billion VND; the complete expansion phase to 4 lanes is 1,875 billion VND.

The leaders of Ha Giang province also proposed that the Government support the province with an additional central budget of 2,500 billion VND to implement the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (phase I), the section through Ha Giang province (support for phase I has decided to invest 1,000 billion VND and support for the complete expansion phase to 4 lanes is 1,500 billion VND).

Like Tuyen Quang, the biggest challenge for the People's Committee of Ha Giang province in upgrading the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressway, the section through Ha Giang province to a standard 4-lane scale is the source of funding. In addition to not finding a source of funding for phase II, even for the Phase I project, the local budget of Ha Giang has only been able to balance about 1,000 billion VND, half of the demand.

“Ha Giang is one of the poorest and most disadvantaged provinces in the country. The local budget revenue is small and unsustainable, the self-balancing rate is low, and it mainly receives additional funds from the central budget. On the other hand, the collection of land use fees is not possible due to the decline of the real estate market,” informed the leader of the Ha Giang Provincial People's Committee.

Capital pressure

Also due to difficulties in capital sources, the People's Committee of Son La province had to propose to the Government to continue implementing the 2-lane phase plan, instead of the 4-lane investment plan for the Hoa Binh - Moc Chau Expressway Project, the section passing through Son La.

In Report No. 99/BC-UBND sent to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Transport in early March 2024, the People's Committee of Son La province requested the two ministries to synthesize and report to the Government to allow the province to invest in the Project according to the phased plan. In which, the phased phase (from 2024 - 2028) will invest in 2 lanes (with continuous emergency lanes), and clear the land according to the scale of 4 lanes; the next phase (from 2031 - 2035) will invest in completing the expressway according to the plan.

With the above scale, the total investment of the Hoa Binh - Moc Chau Expressway Project, the section through Son La in the phased phase is 4,938 billion VND, of which the central budget is expected to be 3,400 billion VND (including 1,700 billion VND expected in the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025 and 1,700 billion VND from increased central budget revenue); local budget is 1,538 billion VND.

In Report No. 99/BC-UBND, the People's Committee of Son La province said that if investment is immediately implemented according to the planning scale, the Hoa Binh - Moc Chau Expressway Project, the section passing through Son La province, will have a total investment of 9,300 billion VND, which means an additional 4,362 billion VND is needed compared to the phased plan.

The leader of the Vietnam Expressway Administration (Ministry of Transport) said that this agency has not yet received full results of investment research and upgrading of divergent expressways from localities and the State Capital Management Committee at enterprises, but capital is certainly the biggest obstacle to investing in upgrading divergent expressways, despite the advantage of completing the project early according to the planning scale.

According to preliminary calculations, the total capital demand to upgrade 2-lane highways to standard 4-lane scale requires about 82,911 billion VND, while by early March 2024, there were only 2 projects with relatively clear capital sources: the 15.2 km Cao Bo - Mai Son route from 4 lanes to 6 lanes, worth 1,995 billion VND and the 66 km La Son - Hoa Lien route from 2 lanes to 4 lanes, worth 3,011 billion VND.

The pressure on the state budget is even greater when many expressway projects in the investment preparation stage such as Cam Lo - Lao Bao, Cho Moi - Bac Kan, Tan Quang - Thanh Thuy border gate... are all updated by the competent authorities according to the standard 4-lane investment plan with very large additional costs compared to the previous phased investment plan. It is worth mentioning that the additional costs are all proposed to be mobilized from the central budget.

According to Mr. Tran Chung, Chairman of the Association of Road Construction Investors (VARSI), the Ministry of Transport and localities need to urgently review and prioritize the expressways that have been divided into investment phases to propose and report to competent authorities for permission to expand when resources are sufficient. In particular, priority should be given to expanding 2-lane expressways to at least 4 lanes; completing the Eastern North-South expressway and inter-regional connecting expressways.

“In order to not create too much burden on the budget, it is necessary to soon complete the expressways, and promptly propose to competent authorities to issue a mechanism allowing the expansion, renovation, upgrading, and modernization of expressways under the PPP method, BOT contract type,” VARSI leaders proposed.

Recently, the Ministry of Transport, localities and relevant agencies have been reviewing and mobilizing resources to invest in expanding 12 expressways in operation, including 5 2-lane routes and 7 4-lane routes with intermittent emergency stopping strips.

Specifically, reviewed and reported to competent authorities to allow investment in expanding the La Son - Hoa Lien route (66 km) from 2 lanes to 4 lanes; expanding the Cao Bo - Mai Son route (15 km) to 6 lanes according to the planning using the increased central budget revenue in 2022, and the Trung Luong - My Thuan route (51 km) under the PPP form.

The Prime Minister has assigned the People's Committee of Hoa Binh province to be the competent authority to study the expansion of the Hoa Lac - Hoa Binh route (26 km) from 2 lanes to 4 lanes under the PPP form. The Ministry of Transport has handed over the route to the locality, and the People's Committee of Hoa Binh province has approved the investor to carry out the steps to adjust the project's investment policy.

The Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) is studying capital mobilization plans and investment forms to expand the Yen Bai - Lao Cai section (141 km) of the Hanoi - Lao Cai expressway from 2 lanes to 4 lanes under the direction of the Prime Minister.

Source