More support from the central budget is needed.
On the afternoon of September 4, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha and the Government delegation spent most of their time working directly with leaders of Lam Dong province and investors to resolve difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of the two expressway projects Tan Phu - Bao Loc and Bao Loc - Lien Khuong.
At the meeting, Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Tran Hong Thai proposed the Government to allow the province to adjust the investment policy for two expressway construction projects Tan Phu (Dong Nai) - Bao Loc (Lam Dong) and Bao Loc - Lien Khuong under the public-private partnership (PPP) method.
The Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee proposed that the Government consider supporting additional central budget capital and allowing the application of a mechanism to share the reduced revenue for the Tan Phu - Bao Loc expressway project.
In addition, Lam Dong province also proposed some changes to the feasibility study report compared to the approved investment policy such as local changes in route direction, changes in land use needs and site clearance costs...
The above changes have increased the total project investment to VND 18,120 billion (an increase of about 5.35% compared to the approved investment policy).
According to Lam Dong Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Thai Hoc, these two expressway projects are very necessary and urgent for Lam Dong and are highly feasible and effective. The project has also been cherished by the government and people of Lam Dong province for a long time.
Therefore, the Acting Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee once again expressed his hope and called on investors to continue to pay attention and enthusiastically participate in investing and accompany the province to promote project implementation.
For the Bao Loc - Lien Khuong expressway project, with a length of about 73.64km, the preliminary total investment is about 19,521 billion VND. Of which, the State capital currently accounts for only 39.76% of the total investment of the project.
According to the feasibility study report submitted for appraisal, the investor proposed to increase by about VND 922 billion compared to the policy to achieve a State capital ratio of 49.59% of the total investment of the project compared to the PPP Law.
Due to the difficulty of the provincial budget, this plan requires additional support from the central budget. Also related to this project, there are currently about 1.8ha/620ha (accounting for 0.29%) of the project area affected by the national mineral planning.
According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Do Thanh Trung, increasing state investment capital at a time when the province has not yet disbursed the allocated capital is very difficult.
Therefore, in the immediate future, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Do Thanh Trung suggested that the province should soon balance capital sources and disburse approved capital for both routes.
Representatives of commercial banks said they are ready to accompany investors to implement the project if investors can prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the project.
The representative of Phuong Trang Group (representative of the consortium) proposed that, for the Bao Loc - Lien Khuong section, in case the Government and the Provincial People's Committee do not consider allocating the budget capital to reach the minimum rate of 49% according to the PPP Law, the proposal for option 2 is to hope that the Government will support capital from TP Bank with reasonable interest rates so that the project can be implemented effectively and on schedule.
Regarding the issue of overlapping mineral planning, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien said that the type of mineral in Lam Dong related to these two highway projects can be resolved because this is a type of mineral that does not have a very high economic value (bauxite), and does not need to be put into reserve.
Therefore, it is not necessary for the State to organize land recovery before implementing the project, but will prioritize the implementation of projects because they are more necessary and important, and it is also not necessary to adjust the mineral planning...
Need to reconsider changing some items
To resolve the problems in these two expressway projects, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha directed Lam Dong province to reconsider changing some items that affect the investment policy.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha said that the current state budget cannot be changed, but investment resources can be resolved.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that he will report to the Prime Minister to consider amending decrees related to the Investment Law and the Public-Private Partnership Law to ensure attractiveness and reduce policy risks for investors of PPP projects in transport.
Regarding investors and banks, the Deputy Prime Minister proposed forming consortia of banks to reduce the total ownership of banks in investment projects.
The Deputy Prime Minister also requested the Ministry of Transport to issue documents guiding policies and traffic synchronization of expressway projects.
Regarding the Bao Loc – Lien Khuong project, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha stated that there are some very favorable conditions because they are under the authority of the Provincial People’s Council. Investors also have more advantages in attracting investment on this route.
On this basis, the Deputy Prime Minister requested the investor and Lam Dong province to review the route to make it reasonable to soon implement the project. Because this entire route must be implemented synchronously, if it stops somewhere, it means the entire route will be zero, because it cannot connect the entire region, reducing the effectiveness of the expressway investment.
