(Dan Tri) - Thanks to the inauguration of a series of expressways with a total length of up to 475km, 2023 is considered a successful year for the Ministry of Transport and localities with expressways passing through.
In 2023, thanks to new routes, the travel time from Hanoi to Nghe An will be shortened to more than 3 hours. Traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho or Phan Thiet will also be more convenient. In the Central region, the Cam Lo - La Son expressway connects with La Son - Hoa Lien, helping to shorten travel time between Da Nang, Hue and Quang Tri.
Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho, in the final days of his term, shared with Dan Tri reporters about the process of overcoming difficulties to bring transport projects to completion.
After more than a decade of priority investment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, in 2023, the "highway" will reach Tuyen Quang, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Vinh Long, Can Tho...
Sharing with Dan Tri reporter, Mr. Le Dinh Tho, Deputy Minister of Transport, commented that it is not only the achievement of 2023, but also the inheritance of the work results of many previous years, especially the guiding spirit from the 13th National Party Congress.
"According to the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, infrastructure development is one of the three strategic breakthroughs, and also the biggest and most important task assigned to the transport sector by the Party, National Assembly and Government," Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho shared.
With the spirit that transport infrastructure must be prioritized, one step ahead to create development momentum for other sectors, in 2023, the Ministry of Transport completed 20 transport infrastructure projects, including 17 road projects, 1 maritime project and 2 waterway projects.
Of these, 9 newly completed expressway projects include Mai Son - National Highway 45; National Highway 45 - Nghi Son; Nghi Son - Dien Chau; Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet; Phan Thiet - Dau Giay; Nha Trang - Cam Lam; My Thuan - Can Tho; My Thuan 2 Bridge and Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho.
As of 2020, after 20 years of implementation, the whole country has only 1,163km of expressways. Since the beginning of the 2021-2025 term, investment in expressways has made a breakthrough, increasing the total length to 1,892km (in 2023 alone, an additional 475km will be put into operation).
According to Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho, in the context of the country's need to recover the economy after the pandemic, investment in transport infrastructure has helped create jobs. New products are the way, and this product is the inevitable foundation for development.
"When the expressway project is completed, the economic structure will change dramatically. Localities that the road passes through will start calculating space for urban development, industrial parks... forming a network connecting seaports, airports, international border gates with the expressway," said Mr. Le Dinh Tho.
Expressway projects completed in 2023 have an average construction time of 2-3 years, meaning that the construction unit has coped with the Covid-19 pandemic, price fluctuations, scarcity of raw materials and difficulties in site clearance, conversion of forest land, rice land...
Talking about solutions to overcome difficulties, Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho said that one of the things that impressed him most was the direction and management of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the times the Prime Minister directly visited the construction site.
These inspection trips have brought about clear results. Firstly, issues under the Prime Minister's authority will be considered and decided by the Prime Minister immediately. Secondly, thanks to the Prime Minister's direction, ministries, branches and localities will join in and remove difficulties and bottlenecks.
"Thanks to the involvement of Government leaders, bottlenecks have been removed based on the principle that whoever has authority and what needs to be handled must be focused on, not shirking or avoiding responsibility. This is different from spreading out and unclear direction," Mr. Tho affirmed.
Besides the two roles mentioned above, the presence of the head of government at the construction site, especially during holidays, also brings great encouragement to the team of construction workers and engineers.
"In addition to salary and responsibility, workers also contribute because they have a source of encouragement, creating a spirit and a vibrant atmosphere at the construction site. Normally, they work by the hour, in shifts, but sometimes, taking advantage of favorable weather, they work all night, 3 shifts, 4 shifts at the construction site is normal," Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho shared.
He said the recent acceleration period has caused the transport industry to begin to change, creating new strength, vision and thinking.
"As the Prime Minister always says, resources come from thinking. If we can innovate our thinking, we will create new resources," the Deputy Minister shared.
In the context of a series of key transport projects with a deadline of 2025, the Ministry of Transport has identified 2024 as an important acceleration period.
It is expected that by the second quarter of 2024, the two BOT expressway projects Dien Chau - Bai Vot and Cam Lam - Vinh Hao will be open to traffic, thereby completing all 11 component projects of the North - South expressway phase 1 (2017-2020).
The whole country will have a North-South expressway running from Hanoi to Ha Tinh, from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang and from Quang Tri to Quang Ngai. The total length of expressways nationwide will reach 2,021km.
Previously, the Ministry of Transport simultaneously started construction of 12 component projects of the North-South Expressway Phase 2 on January 1, 2023. By accelerating the progress of these projects, the North-South Expressway axis will be connected in a strip from Lang Son to Ca Mau by 2025.
Some key projects are also being urgently implemented such as Hanoi Ring Road 4, Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang, Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot, Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang, Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi - Bac Kan expressways...
"By 2025, the whole country will have about 3,000km of highways. It can be said that the Party and State are paying attention and devoting large resources to the transportation sector," said Mr. Tho.
Not only focusing on highways, the Ministry of Transport is also preparing the North-South high-speed railway project to submit to the National Assembly for investment policy, striving to start construction of this project in the 2026-2030 period.
In the aviation sector, the Ministry will strive to complete the Long Thanh airport project and Tan Son Nhat T3 terminal. Regarding maritime, the immediate task is to improve the exploitation capacity of Cai Mep - Thi Vai and Lach Huyen seaports...
"These are very big goals and tasks, requiring comprehensive leadership and direction from the central to local levels, from the Government to ministries and branches, all must participate synchronously, with determination, resoluteness, and work with the highest sense of responsibility to be successful," Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho affirmed.
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