On the afternoon of February 22, Deputy Minister Le Anh Tuan and a delegation from the Ministry of Transport attended a meeting to deploy the Ring Road 4 project at the headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai and leaders of the People's Committees of Dong Nai, Long An, Binh Duong, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces also attended.
Localities support PPP investment plan
At the meeting, Mr. Pham Huu Son - General Director of Transport Design Consulting Corporation (TEDI) said that in order to smoothly implement Belt Road 4, localities should agree on common standards for lane width and hard median strips right from the beginning.
This is the same opinion as Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport Tran Quang Lam when reporting to the leaders of the Ministry of Transport at the previous meeting.
"Currently, localities are asking for a PPP investment mechanism of over 50%, so they should avoid squeezing lanes and agree on a common width for each lane. For example, in the case of Ring Road 4 in Long An, instead of the lane width of 3.5m, consider adjusting it to 3.75m, due to the current situation that the Ring Road 4 section is mainly used by trucks transporting goods. This will improve traffic safety when operating the route," said Mr. Lam.
Assessing the correlation with the Ring Road 4 project that Hanoi has implemented, TEDI representative said: "The implementation phase of Ring Road 4 in Hanoi is very different from Ring Road 4 in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces. The Ring Road 4 project in Hanoi has up to 9 component projects but only component project 7 is invested in the form of PPP. Therefore, the Ring Road 4 that Ho Chi Minh City is implementing has more advantages if following the plan of 50% investor, 50% budget".
Map of the entire Ring Road 4 route passing through Ho Chi Minh City: Ba Ria Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Long An.
However, according to Mr. Son, there are currently 3 consulting units participating in the Ring Road 4 project, so each unit calculates a different payback period for each component project. Some sections are 20 years, some are 21 years, and some are 25 years. This will affect the overall financial plan when the Government and the National Assembly consider it. The Ministry of Transport needs to soon select a unit in charge of the overall consulting to review and prepare a report for the entire route.
Need to have a general consulting "conductor" soon
As one of the localities expecting to build Ring Road 4 soonest, Mr. Vo Van Phi - Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee said that the province has also included the project in the public investment target but the project has not been approved during the implementation process, the reason is the huge investment capital. If the 50% PPP investment option is agreed upon, Dong Nai province supports the design of the cross-section width of Ring Road 4 from 25.5m - 27m to ensure aesthetics and safety.
However, Dong Nai province is currently investing in many important projects, so it is recommended to adjust the budget allocation ratio to 53% instead of the current 50% for 5 consecutive years. This is to create conditions for Dong Nai to have more resources to complete the set goals and tasks, including Ring Road 4.
Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai: "Ho Chi Minh City will work day and night to submit the Ring Road 4 project in June this year."
Assessing the overall Ring Road 4 project, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai said that Ho Chi Minh City and the remaining 4 provinces need to urgently and unanimously implement it. Ho Chi Minh City alone will work day and night from today to submit the project for investment approval in time for the National Assembly session in June. Thus, by the end of March at the latest, all basic documents of the project must be completed by the consulting unit and the localities.
Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City proposed that the Ministry of Transport soon assign the task to the overall consulting unit to review technical and financial standards. In addition, each locality has its own specific mechanism, so the general spirit is that all must be urgent.
Deputy Minister Le Anh Tuan urged provincial leaders to implement the Ring Road 4 project.
Listening to opinions from localities implementing the Ring Road 4 project, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan highly appreciated the efforts of provinces and cities during the research process.
"Ring Road 3 is very important and Ring Road 4 is extremely important, contributing to regional connectivity and creating new spaces connecting with urban areas. After having a general consulting unit, the provinces need to soon agree on investment methods, technical standards, and investment phases to submit to the Southeast Regional Coordination Council for evaluation and careful review before submitting to the National Assembly," said Deputy Minister Le Anh Tuan.
Source
Comment (0)