The Ministry of Construction has just issued Official Dispatch No. 10388/BXD-KHTC to the Committee for Petitions and Supervision of the National Assembly, the Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Son La province to respond to voters' petitions after the First Session of the 16th National Assembly on investing in upgrading and expanding National Highway 43.
According to the proposal, voters proposed to continue to study, consider, and submit to competent authorities to prioritize allocating investment capital to upgrade and expand National Highway 43, the section from National Highway 6 to Long Sap International Border Gate, with a length of about 35km.
Voters said that Long Sap International Border Gate is completing infrastructure, but the only connecting route is National Highway 43, which is currently small and narrow in scale, with many dangerous curves, which is a "bottleneck" for heavy trucks, reducing the efficiency of exploitation of the border gate economic zone and attracting investment.
Voters also cited Official Dispatch No. 13394/BGTVT-KHĐT dated December 16, 2021 of the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) responding to the proposal of the National Assembly Delegation of Son La province sent to the 2nd Session, 15th National Assembly.
Accordingly, for the Project to invest in renovating and upgrading National Highway 43 section Moc Chau town - Long Sap border gate, the Ministry of Transport said that the project, along with the project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 279 section Cap Na - Pa Uon and some urgent projects serving socio-economic development of the locality, although there have been instructions from Party, National Assembly and Government leaders, it is not possible to balance capital sources for investment in the 2021-2025 period.
After research, the Ministry of Construction has the following opinions:
The Ministry of Construction agreed with the opinions of voters in Son La province on the need for investment capital to upgrade and expand National Highway 43 (section from National Highway 6 to Long Sap International Border Gate, about 35km long) and invest in Long Sap International Border Gate infrastructure, in which:
Regarding investment in renovation and upgrading of national highway sections, according to the provisions of the Road Law of 2024, Decree No. 175/2024/ND-CP dated December 30, 2024 detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Construction Law on construction activity management, No. 144/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 on decentralization and delegation of power in the field of state management of the Ministry of Construction, national highways in the province have been handed over to localities, so the authority to resolve is local.
According to the provisions of the Road Law of 2024, Decree No. 165/2024/ND-CP dated December 26, 2024, amended and supplemented in Decree No. 241/2026/ND-CP dated June 26, 2026, National Highway 43 has been decentralized to local management and the Ministry of Finance has transferred the assets of road traffic infrastructure belonging to National Highway 43 located in the province into local assets from 2025, so the project implementation is under the authority of Son La Provincial People's Committee. The Ministry of Construction, with the role of state management, will closely coordinate with the province in the investment, management, exploitation and implementation process.
Regarding investment in infrastructure of Long Sap international border gate, effectively connecting with the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Thailand, the Ministry of Construction answers as follows:
The connection of Vietnam with Laos and Thailand on National Highway 43 through Long Sap border gate, at the request of the Command of the Border Guard of Son La province in document No. 3607/BCH-HCKT dated September 12, 2024, the Vietnam Road Administration has issued document No. 8175/CDBVN-QLBTDB dated November 21, 2024 to contribute opinions on the content of the Project.
The People's Council of Son La province has approved the investment policy for the project "Investing in building the main border gate of Long Sap province into an international border gate" in Resolution No. 349/NQ-HDND dated July 12, 2024.
