On November 18, the Department of Transport of Quang Tri province confirmed that the project connecting the East branch of Ho Chi Minh road with the West branch of Ho Chi Minh road still has 4.5km of land that has not been handed over, causing difficulties for the project.
This road project will be implemented from 2022, with a length of 15km. To date, more than 10.5km has been basically completed, the remaining 4.5km has not been handed over due to problems related to the auction and liquidation of natural forests.
According to the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board, the 4.5km section encountered problems passing through the natural forest area managed by the unit. To implement the project, the locality converted the natural forest area and was approved by the Prime Minister on November 24, 2023.
After that, the forest owner organized an auction for the converted forest area. However, during the first auction, there were no customers participating. On November 4, 2024, the forest owner asked for permission to re-auction and is currently completing the procedures to implement it.
“The forest area put up for auction is 4.5km long along the road through the forest, so units are not interested in participating in the auction. If the second auction is not successful, it will be reported to the People's Committee of Quang Tri province” – the leader of the Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board informed.
While the auction of forest clearance is still unclear, the above mentioned road project is stuck, causing the project to be behind schedule.
Mr. Tran Huu Hung - Director of the Department of Transport of Quang Tri province said that the capital plan of the project has been arranged from 2020 to 2024 is more than 171 billion VND, of which in 2024 more than 20 billion VND is arranged and so far nearly 6 billion VND has been disbursed.
Due to difficulties in site clearance through natural forest areas, the Department of Transport proposed that the People's Committee of Quang Tri province consider transferring 5 billion VND that could not be disbursed in 2024 to another project or adjust it to be implemented in 2025. The project's capital plan for 2024 after adjustment is more than 15 billion VND. The remaining capital that needs to be arranged in 2025 is 63 billion VND to complete the remaining items of the project to ensure compliance with the approved investment target.
