Determined to relieve pressure to bring North-South expressway and Long Thanh airport to the finish line

(Dan Tri) - The progress of each stage in the component projects of the North-South Expressway and Long Thanh Airport was reported by the Government to the National Assembly to "solve any problems", with the expectation that the mega projects will be completed on time.

The 6th session of the 15th National Assembly officially opened on the morning of October 23, with many important contents. At this session, the National Assembly will consider and decide to adjust a number of contents of Resolution 53 on the Feasibility Study Report of the Land Acquisition, Compensation, Support and Resettlement Project of Long Thanh International Airport. The Secretary General of the National Assembly also proposed to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval a draft Resolution of the National Assembly on piloting a number of mechanisms and policies to remove obstacles related to investment in road traffic works.

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Sharing with Dan Tri reporter, National Assembly delegate Pham Van Hoa (Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Dong Thap province) commented that the 6th session took place in the context of Vietnam's very difficult socio-economic situation, GDP growth has not reached the set level, people's lives are difficult, businesses are slow to recover... "However, this is the general context of the world and the region. Compared to the world, Vietnam still has many bright spots", Mr. Hoa said and said that this is the motivation to try in the coming time.

National Assembly Delegate Pham Van Hoa (Photo: National Assembly).

The National Assembly delegate acknowledged and highly appreciated the Government's direction and drastic involvement. "The Government's involvement is very substantial and focused, especially in the construction of key transport projects such as Long Thanh airport, North-South expressway, or satellite expressways around Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City," Mr. Hoa stated his opinion. Reporting to the National Assembly on the implementation of the Long Thanh International Airport Project, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that in phase 1, the project is divided into 4 component projects, including: Component project 1 - works of state management agency headquarters; Component project 2 - works serving flight management; Component project 3 - essential works in the airport; Component project 4 - other works.

Perspective of Long Thanh International Airport (Photo: ACV).

According to the National Assembly's resolution, the Long Thanh airport project phase 1 "will be completed and put into operation by 2025 at the latest". Minister Nguyen Van Thang informed that so far, only the headquarters of the Southern Airport Authority and the headquarters of the Immigration Department (Ministry of Public Security) have been allocated capital and approved for investment policies to be implemented according to plan. As for other headquarters, the capital allocation work of ministries and the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee is slow. However, according to the Commander of the transport sector, these are ordinary civil works, not complicated, the project preparation time takes about 6-12 months and the construction time is about 12-18 months, so despite the delay, the investors are expected to ensure completion by the end of 2025 to synchronously exploit the entire project. Regarding component projects 2 and 3, Mr. Thang affirmed that "the progress is basically guaranteed as planned", and units are focusing all resources to speed up the implementation of this component project.

Regarding component project 4, the Minister of Transport said that the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee has completed the site clearance work to hand over and issue the Certificate of Land Use Rights to the Southern Airport Authority. However, due to difficulties in determining the value of payment to the State budget when using the land, the progress is being delayed. The Ministry of Transport has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to urgently carry out procedures for selecting investors to start the project according to the agreed schedule. In early August, the Government submitted a report to the National Assembly for consideration and permission to adjust some contents of Resolution No. 53 to have a basis for disbursement and implementation of the next steps, including: reducing the total investment of the project; reclaimed land area; Project implementation time and additional content on resettlement arrangement... Considering that it is necessary to consider adjusting the above contents, when examining this content, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh proposed that the Government only submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision on 2 contents: project implementation time and capital arrangement for the project, while the remaining adjustment contents are under the authority of the Government. According to Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh, to date, the project has recovered over 4,882ha/4,946ha of land (reaching 98.7%). Dong Nai province has also approved resettlement for 4,161 households (4,045 households have been resettled, 116 households are being resettled).

Long Thanh airport project has recovered over 4,882ha/4,946ha of land; resettlement has been approved for 4,161 households (Photo: Hai Long).

The investment policy for Long Thanh airport was approved by the 14th National Assembly, but according to National Assembly delegate Pham Van Hoa, the project implementation has only recently been accelerated, while previously it was very sluggish and slow due to problems and obstacles in site clearance. Thanks to the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Transport and local authorities, Mr. Hoa said that up to now, we can rest assured about this work. "The overall progress of the entire project may be slow, but with the determination of the entire system, I believe that the long-term goal can still be achieved," delegate Hoa expected. The Long Thanh airport project is investing in building items to reach a capacity of 100 million passengers/year and 5 million tons of cargo/year, according to the National Assembly's resolution. The total investment of the entire project is about 336,630 billion VND (equivalent to about 16.06 billion USD), of which phase 1 is 114,450 billion VND (equivalent to 5.45 billion USD).

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh inspected the Long Thanh airport construction site and urged the project's progress (Photo: Doan Bac).

Connecting the North-South expressway from Lang Son to Ca Mau in 2026

In a report to the National Assembly on the implementation of the North-South Eastern Expressway Project for the 2021-2025 period, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that by the end of 2020, the project had put into operation about 412km. Of the 11 component projects with a length of 654km, 8 projects with a length of 519km have been put into operation so far, with 135km under construction and expected to be completed in 2024. The investment policy for the North-South Eastern Expressway for the 2021-2025 period was approved by the 15th National Assembly at the first extraordinary session in early 2022.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang (Photo: Pham Thang).

The project has a total length of about 729km. The project is expected to be basically completed in 2025 and put into operation in 2026. "Thus, by 2026, the North-South expressway in the East from Lang Son to Ca Mau will be basically connected (except for Can Tho 2 bridge which will be completed after 2026)", according to the Minister of Transport. This project applies many special mechanisms to speed up progress. In addition, the Government also established a State Steering Committee for important national projects and works, key to the transport sector, directly directed and operated by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. According to Mr. Thang, the Government leaders have also directly inspected the project many times, worked with localities and issued official dispatches requesting to remove difficulties in construction materials for the projects. The Minister of Transport emphasized that with the special mechanisms approved by the National Assembly and the huge changes in leadership methods, thinking and working methods of the units, the North-South expressway is closely following the required progress milestone.

Construction unit clearing the land for the North-South expressway project, section through Binh Dinh province (Photo: Binh Dinh).

In particular, the organization and implementation of the work of preparing, appraising, approving the feasibility study report, technical design, cost estimates, selecting contractors, compensating for site clearance and starting construction of component projects under special mechanisms has been shortened by 1.5-2 years compared to normal. "From the time the National Assembly approved the investment policy until the start of construction of all 12 component projects took only about 1 year; from the time the feasibility study report was approved and capital was allocated for site clearance to now, it has only been about 13 months, but 91% of the site clearance has been completed, the remaining work will be completed by localities in 2023", the Minister of Transport emphasized. He pointed out the shortcomings of component projects in the Mekong Delta region, because the entire route passes through weak soil areas, the roadbed must be treated and loaded for subsidence, so the completion time depends largely on the ability to supply sand filling materials. The Government therefore proposed that the National Assembly allow the extension of the implementation period of the special mechanism in the exploitation of minerals for common construction materials until the end of 2024.

Lack of raw materials is currently the biggest difficulty and obstacle in the construction of expressways in the Mekong Delta region (Photo: Bao Ky).

Supporting this proposal, National Assembly delegate Pham Van Hoa affirmed that extending the special mechanism until the end of 2024 is very necessary, because the progress of the North-South Expressway is good, but the routes through the Mekong Delta region are facing difficulties in terms of raw materials. Emphasizing that the construction of the North-South Expressway and the expressways in the Mekong Delta region must be suitable to reality and the field, Mr. Hoa proposed building overpasses on the expressway. "With the current situation of scarce sand, soil, gravel, and stone, the construction of the expressway is very difficult. I propose that the Ministry of Transport build overpasses, although the cost is higher, it will reduce the pressure on construction materials and other essential goods, reduce the site clearance, and reduce the impact of blocking the flow...", according to the opinion of the National Assembly delegate of Dong Thap province.

According to the Vietnam road network planning, the North-South Eastern Expressway from Lang Son to Ca Mau is about 2,063km long. The completion and synchronous operation of the North-South Eastern Expressway, according to Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang, aims to connect economic and political centers, economic zones, key industrial zones, especially key economic regions.

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