The fear of "absence" of rest stops on the highway

After a period of urgent construction, by the end of January 2025, the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) had accepted and put the temporary rest stop at Km 427+035 of Nghi Son - Dien Chau expressway, in Hanh Quang commune, Dien Chau district (Nghe An) into operation.

The project has a total investment of nearly 340 billion VND, and is expected to officially operate in January 2026. However, due to the inadequacy of the North-South Eastern Expressway from Ninh Binh province to Ha Tinh province being put into operation with a length of more than 210km, of which the Dien Chau - Bai Vot section has collected tolls but still has no rest stops, only emergency parking strips, the Ministry of Construction has urged the investor Petrolimex to speed up the construction progress to put the project into operation in time for the Lunar New Year 2025.

Petrolimex representative said that according to the design, the Nghi Son - Dien Chau expressway rest stop consists of 2 sides. Phase 1 has a total area of nearly 3.3 hectares, which was cleared along with the construction process of phase 1 of Nghi Son - Dien Chau expressway. However, after completion, the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) adjusted the design and expanded the area of the rest stop to 8.9 hectares. Up to now, because the expanded area has not been cleared, the investor has only announced the construction plan, making a temporary rest stop on the area recovered in phase 1 to serve the people. The temporary rest stop only includes a parking lot, waiting area and free public toilet, there is no gas station.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Nguyen Khac Trung, Director of the North-South Expressway Project Management Board, Ham Nghi - Vung Ang section (Ha Tinh), on the planned Ham Nghi - Vung Ang Expressway, there is a rest stop at Km534+310 in Cam Hung commune, Cam Xuyen district. Up to now, the site clearance work has been completed, and the investor has started construction of the first items of the project.

According to the design documents, the rest stop is of type 1 scale, with a total area of 25,000m2. The project investment capital includes the preliminary total cost of project implementation and compensation, support and resettlement costs of 350.5 billion VND, with the investment capital being 100% of the investor's capital. The expected progress is 15 months, in which the time to complete public service works is expected to be 9 months from the effective date of the contract. The exploitation period after completing the investment and construction of the rest stop is 25 years. Also on the North-South expressway, the Dien Chau - Bai Vot component project has planned a rest stop at Km478+300 through Yen Ho commune, Duc Tho district (Thanh Binh Thinh intersection, Duc Tho district), but so far it has not been built even though the Dien Chau - Bai Vot expressway has been put into operation since June 30, 2024 and toll collection has begun since January 5, 2025.

Up to now, of the 8 rest stops of the North-South Expressway Phase 1 component projects that have signed contracts with investors, only 3 stations have handed over the site and are under construction; 2 stations have only handed over part of the site; the remaining 3 stations have not handed over the site. According to the plan, on the North-South Expressway in the East, there are a total of 21 rest stops managed by the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction). In addition to the 8 stations of the above-mentioned Phase 1 component projects, on March 25, the Vietnam Road Administration also organized the signing of contracts for 7 investment projects to build rest stops on the North-South Expressway in the East. Up to now, a total of 17/21 projects to build and invest in rest stops on the North-South Expressway in the East have selected investors.

Rest stops are one of the conditions for implementing toll collection on state-invested highways. Most recently, in a dispatch sent to 12 localities to promptly hand over land to build rest stops on the Eastern North-South Expressway, the Ministry of Construction said that the progress of rest stop projects has not met requirements, mainly because the site clearance work has not met the contract schedule.

To soon complete the rest stop system, the Ministry of Construction requested the People's Committees of the provinces to complete the handover of the entire site in March and April 2025 so that construction can begin immediately after signing the contract.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Giao-thong/noi-lo-vang-bong-tram-dung-nghi-tren-cao-toc-i763430/