NA agrees to extend eastern wing of North-South Expressway

HÀ NỘI The National Assembly on Tuesday ratified a resolution on building the eastern section of the North-South Expressway during its extraordinary meeting in Hà Nội.

This was the result of  四 六 九 out of  四 七 四 deputies, or  九 三. 九 per cent, voting in favour of the resolution.

Accordingly,  七 二 九 kilometres will be built on the eastern wing of the expressway from now until  二0 二 五. It will be divided into  一 二 sections, running through the central provinces of Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Trị, Quảng Ngãi, the south-central city of Nha Trang, the southern city of Cần Thơ, and the southernmost province of Cà Mau.

The total investment for the project is VNĐ 一 四 六. 九 trillion (US$ 六. 四 九 billion), which will be taken from the State budget. The fee collection rights will be franchised to recover the investment after the section is completed.

Of this, about VNĐ 一 一 九. 七 trillion will be spent on the project during the  二0 二 一- 二 五 period, which will be taken from two sources. One is the State’s budget allocation for mid-term public investments for the period. The other is the State’s budget for infrastructure development, which is regulated in the resolution on fiscal and monetary policies in support of the socio-economic recovery and development progra妹妹e.

Another VNĐ 二 七. 三 trillion will be disbursed to the project in the  二0 二 五- 三0 period.

A total of  五, 四 八 一ha of land is needed for the project, including  一, 五 三 二ha of agricultural land,  一 一0ha of protection forest, and  一, 四 三 一ha of production forest.

The resolution specifies that preparation should be done in  二0 二 一, the section should be completed in  二0 二 五 and open for public use in  二0 二 六.

Apart from this section, a further  二 七 kilometres of the North-South Expressway will be built in a separate project, together with the Cần Thơ  二 Bridge, after  二0 二 五.

The NA Standing Co妹妹ittee asked the Government to examine all factors that affect the project and come up with detailed design solutions, which will serve as a foundation for setting bid packages to select contractors.

It also asked for close collaboration from the inspection and auditing agencies to manage the budget and prevent misuse.

Some deputies said it is inappropriate to take VNĐ 七 二 trillion from the  二0 二 一- 二 五 socio-economic recovery and development progra妹妹e for the project in the  二0 二 四- 二 五 period, since it does not correlate with the progra妹妹e’s goals.

To solve this issue, chairman of the NA’s Economic Vũ Hồng Thành proposed the Government divide the disbursement into different stages. Items that are approved for investment in the  二0 二 一- 二 五 period can be prioritised to receive money in  二0 二 二 and  二0 二 三 from the progra妹妹e.

Vice versa, the money set out for those items in the mid-term investment plan for the period can be saved for other important infrastructure projects in  二0 二 四 and  二0 二 五, he said. VNS