On December 18, the Government Office announced that it had just issued Notice No. 558/TB-VPCP on the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha at a meeting on investment in the project to expand the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway.
The conclusion announcement stated: The Prime Minister has directed the Ministry of Transport to advise on investment in expanding the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway from July 2023; Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has assigned the Ministry of Transport to study and propose investment in Document No. 6727/VPCP-CN dated August 31, 2023.
During the research and proposal period for adjusting the road network planning for the 2021-2025 period, with a vision to 2050, the Ministry of Transport selected and assigned investors to propose projects and prepare a pre-feasibility study report for the project.
However, the implementation of the Government's directives is slower than required, although there are objective reasons (need to wait for the Road Law to take effect from January 1, 2025).
Therefore, the Ministry of Transport is requested to urgently implement the next steps to be able to start the project in the second quarter of 2025.
Regarding the investment scale, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha basically agreed with the proposal that the Ministry of Transport and the investor had agreed on.
However, the Ministry of Transport and investors need to discuss further with relevant localities to agree on the optimal investment scale, ensure feasibility and to implement the expansion investment in the shortest time; it is impossible to let the situation happen where the investment and construction are completed but in the short term, traffic congestion occurs.
The Ministry of Transport, the investor proposing the expansion project and the consultant are responsible for calculation and forecast data, especially on traffic volume.
Regarding the competent authority to implement the Project under the PPP method: In Official Dispatch No. 5498/VPCP-CN dated July 20, 2023, the Prime Minister directed "... should be assigned to the locality as the competent authority".
Therefore, it is recommended that the Ministry of Transport discuss with the People's Committee of Tien Giang province (or related localities). If an agreement is reached on which locality will be assigned as the competent authority under the direction of the Prime Minister, it will be submitted to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision in January 2025.
Regarding investor selection: The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Transport to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to propose a selection plan, ensuring that the selected investor must have full capacity and experience to implement the project as soon as possible.
Currently, the Ministry of Transport has submitted to the Prime Minister an adjustment to the planning of the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong section to a scale of 10-12 lanes.
The Ministry of Transport accepted the opinions of the leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment at the meeting, urgently coordinated with relevant localities, and established a project to clear the land according to the planning scale.
Coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to balance legal and feasible capital sources for immediate implementation by localities, avoiding additional costs and facilitating expansion investment.
