On the morning of October 16, in Can Tho City, a conference was held to remove difficulties and obstacles and promote the development of transport infrastructure in the Mekong Delta region. Attending were Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh; Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha; Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc, along with leaders of ministries, branches, central agencies and leaders of provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region.
In his concluding remarks at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged, commended and highly appreciated the ministries, branches, localities, agencies, units, enterprises and contractors who have resolutely implemented the directions of the Government and the Prime Minister to remove difficulties and obstacles in implementing tasks, contributing to changing the face of the expressway system in the Mekong Delta.
The Prime Minister congratulated localities in the Mekong Delta region for forming a transport infrastructure system connecting within the region and with regions across the country; thereby opening up new development space, reducing logistics costs, input costs, increasing the competitiveness of goods, bringing benefits to localities, the whole region and the whole country.
"We have turned nothing into something, turned difficult into easy, turned the impossible into possible; from just ideas to specific, realistic projects, many routes and bridges have been completed; from no money to enough money; from vast rice fields to clearly defined modern highways, bringing great development prospects to the Mekong Delta region," the Prime Minister emphasized.
The Prime Minister stated that according to the approved plan, the Mekong Delta region has 6 expressways with a total length of nearly 1,200km. Before this term, the entire region had only 39km of expressways, and no projects were prepared for investment and construction. With the determination of the Central Government and the determination of the localities, from what was considered a "lowland" of expressways, to date, the transport infrastructure network connecting the Mekong Delta has clearly changed.
The whole region has 120km of expressway put into operation; 428km of expressway is under construction and striving to basically complete by 2025; 215km are being studied to prepare for investment (including: Duc Hoa - My An (74km), My An - Cao Lanh (26km), Ha Tien - Rach Gia (100km), Can Tho 2 bridge (15km).
"Implementing the projects is a political task, a demand of the heart, and an expectation of the people of the Mekong Delta region," said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
In addition to the achieved results, the Prime Minister also pointed out the limitations, difficulties and challenges: Some localities have not been proactive and have been slow in implementing procedures for licensing and handing over common construction material mines. Some local management agencies have not conducted in-depth research; advice has not been given on the implementation of legal regulations and instructions from the Government and the Prime Minister. Some localities have not been proactive in providing complete and objective information and propaganda to gain people's agreement and support...
In the coming time, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to speed up, make more breakthroughs, and be stronger in organization and implementation, with higher political determination and more scientific and effective methods.
The Prime Minister stated that ministries, branches and localities continue to focus on thoroughly grasping three consistent viewpoints: Transport must be smooth, go ahead and pave the way; only discuss doing, not discuss backing down, ensure projects are on schedule and ahead of schedule, improve quality, ensure technical, aesthetic, safety, hygiene, environment, prevent negativity and waste; discuss to decide, not to leave it there, once discussed, once decided, it must be done, once done, there must be specific products and results, measurable.
The Prime Minister also stated that the workload in the coming time of each project is very large, requiring all levels, sectors and localities to be extremely urgent, proactive, flexible and creative in applying policies, mechanisms and strategies to implement the projects. Respond practically and effectively to the emulation movement "500 peak days and nights to successfully complete expressway projects". Strive to achieve the goal of basically completing 600km of expressways in the Mekong Delta region by the end of 2025 and about 1,200km by 2030.
Regarding key tasks and solutions, the Prime Minister requested ministers, heads of sectors; secretaries of provincial and municipal Party committees; chairmen of local People's Committees... based on their functions, tasks and authority, to focus on directing and further promoting the above-mentioned lessons in implementing projects. In particular, there must be solutions to compensate for the slow progress and especially focus on thoroughly resolving 3 remaining issues: Site clearance; relocation of high-voltage power lines; supply of materials (sand, stone, gravel).
