Waiting anxiously for land to build highway rest stop

Currently, only 2/8 rest stops on the North-South Expressway in the East have received enough land to start construction, while essential public service works must be basically completed before December 31, 2024.

Construction location of Dau Giay – Phan Thiet expressway rest stop. Photo : PM

Stressful progress

The impatience can be seen in the Official Dispatch No. 47/CD-BGTVT recently sent by Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, Hau Giang, Kien Giang provinces to speed up the implementation of compensation, support, and resettlement for rest stop projects on the Eastern North-South Expressway.

This is a series of 21 rest stops out of 24 rest stops on the North-South Expressway in the East being deployed by the Ministry of Transport, of which 8 stations have found and signed contracts with investors in July 2024; 13 stations are organizing bidding to select investors.

At the request of the Prime Minister, the 8 rest stops that have found investors must basically complete essential public service works before December 31, 2024 and complete all rest stops in 2025.

However, as of October 25, only 2/8 stations have received the land. The remaining stations have either not yet been handed over the land, or have only been partially handed over, failing to meet the implementation progress of the investors according to the signed contract.

Of these, 3 stations are still “empty” in terms of land, including Nha Trang – Cam Lam, Cam Lam – Vinh Hao, Vinh Hao – Phan Thiet (Km144+560); 3 stations have handed over part of the land including Nghi Son – Dien Chau, Dien Chau – Bai Vot, Phan Thiet – Dau Giay; 2 stations have basically completed the handover of land including Mai Son – National Highway 45 and Vinh Hao – Phan Thiet (Km 205+092).

“The Ministry of Transport requests localities to thoroughly resolve difficulties and obstacles, speed up site clearance, and promptly hand over the site to the project in October 2024 for 8 rest stops that have selected investors and in December 2024 for 13 rest stops that are selecting investors to speed up the project progress and complete it for synchronous operation,” said the Minister of Transport.

It should be added that, even if the site is cleared in the first half of November 2024, the progress of construction of essential works at 8 rest stops will be very stressful because investors only have about 2 months left to complete the toilet system, parking lots... in time to serve people during the peak travel season at the end of the year.

According to the Vietnam Expressway Administration, although all 6 stations with land clearance problems only have a small area (average of about 5 hectares) and have been handed over site clearance piles by the project management boards of the Ministry of Transport from November 2023 to April 2024, the implementation progress is very slow.

“Since the 2024 Land Law took effect (August 1, 2024), the provinces have not yet been able to immediately issue regulations on compensation, support, and resettlement according to the 2024 Land Law; land price lists have not been issued. Therefore, investors can only carry out internal work such as design work, environmental impact assessment, and preparation of contractor selection procedures,” said Mr. Nguyen Quang Giang, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Expressway Administration.

Early re-bidding of 13 stations

Not only is it difficult for the group of 8 stations to find investors, the Vietnam Expressway Administration is also struggling to select investors for 13 rest stops on the North-South Expressway belonging to the North-South Expressway component projects in the 2021-2025 period: National Highway 45 - Nghi Son, Van Phong - Nha Trang, Hoai Nhon - Quy Nhon, Vung Ang - Bung, Bung - Van Ninh, Van Ninh - Cam Lo, Quang Ngai - Hoai Nhon (station Km77+820 and station Km14+620), Quy Nhon - Chi Thanh, Ham Nghi - Vung Ang, Cam Lo - La Son, Hau Giang - Ca Mau and Can Tho - Hau Giang.

For the 13 above-mentioned rest stops, the Vietnam Expressway Administration has approved the project information, the project management boards have approved and organized the posting of bidding documents in July 2024 on the National Bidding Network, but during the implementation process, objective problems arose, so the bidding notice had to be canceled according to the provisions of Decree No. 115/2024/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Bidding on selecting investors to implement investment projects using land.

To speed up the implementation progress, the Vietnam Expressway Administration has requested project management boards to urgently re-organize bidding, and re-issue bidding documents in October 2024.

In addition, project management boards and the Vietnam Expressway Administration will also strive to minimize the time spent on organizing investor selection (evaluating bidding documents, appraising selection results, negotiating contracts, etc.).

“In a favorable case, the selection of contractors for the group of 13 stations will be completed in January 2025. During the negotiation process, the Vietnam Expressway Administration will request the winning investors to shorten the construction progress and strive to basically complete essential public service works when the component projects on the expressway are put into operation,” informed the leader of the Vietnam Expressway Administration.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/phap-phong-cho-mat-bang-xay-tram-dung-nghi-cao-toc-d228875.html