As Lao Dong newspaper has reported, Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee is proposing to invest in the Bao Ha - Lai Chau expressway with 100% central budget capital.
Notably, in Official Dispatch No. 5699/TTr-UBND, Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee continued to propose to the Prime Minister to allow complete investment in the entire route, without phasing investment as proposed by some ministries and sectors.
Previously, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Finance proposed dividing the project into two phases: phase 1 investing in the section from IC16 intersection to the center of Lai Chau province, phase 2 investing in the section from the center of the province to Ma Lu Thang international border gate.
According to Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee, the phased plan will not fully promote the effectiveness of the project.
If only investing in the first section, cargo and passenger transport activities still have to continue to circulate on National Highway 4D and National Highway 12 to reach Ma Lu Thang border gate.
These are all roads with limited scale, complex terrain and frequently affected by natural disasters.
The locality believes that incomplete investment will reduce efficiency in shortening transportation time, reducing logistics costs, developing border gate economy and expanding trade cooperation with Yunnan province (China).
At the same time, the ability to form logistics centers, attract investment in border gate economic zones, industrial parks and mineral exploitation and processing projects, especially rare earths, will also be affected.
In addition to its economic development significance, Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee emphasized that the expressway plays an important role in national defense, security and foreign affairs.
The road directly connecting to Ma Lu Thang international border gate will contribute to improving the mobility capacity of forces, protecting border sovereignty, increasing disaster response capacity, rescue and relief, and consolidating the all-people national defense posture.
Lai Chau province said that the project is in line with the goal of having more than 5,000 km of expressways nationwide by 2030, while contributing to completing the national transportation network and removing "bottlenecks" connecting the Northwest region.
When completed, the expressway is expected to replace the role of National Highways 279, 32, 4D and 12.
From this route, a high-speed transport corridor will be formed connecting Lai Chau with the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway, the Capital region, the northern seaport system and Ma Lu Thang international border gate, creating motivation for socio-economic development and strengthening regional linkages.
It is known that in the past time, the two localities (Lao Cai and Lai Chau) have agreed on orientations and route plans in accordance with the plan, and at the same time proposed a coordination mechanism in the process of preparing and implementing the project.
According to Mr. Ha Quang Trung - Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee, the two provinces are continuing to closely coordinate, soon agree on the scale, route direction and investment form; proactively remove difficulties right from the preparation stage, and promptly report to competent authorities for contents beyond their authority.
With the consensus of the two localities, the Bao Ha - Lai Chau expressway is expected to become a new driving axis, expanding the development space, creating a breakthrough for the Northwest region in the coming time.
In addition to the Bao Ha - Lai Chau expressway project in the research process, the two provinces are also implementing the Project to Connect Transportation of Northern Mountainous Provinces with a total length of about 199 km, invested by Project Management Board 2 (Ministry of Construction), with a scale of more than 6,000 billion VND.
