North-South highway plan adjusted

February 14, 2017 | 16:05

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The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has decided to adjust its construction plan for the North-South Expressway linking Hà Nội and HCM City due to a funding shortfall.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has decided to adjust its construction plan for the North-South Expressway linking Hà Nội and HCM City due to a funding shortfall.-Photo vietnambiz.vn

Phạm Hữu Sơn, director general of Transport Engineering Design Inc (TEDI), the project’s consultant, said previously the MoT had set a target of completing the 1,372km of North-South road by 2020 and proposed that the Government set aside VNĐ70 trillion (US$3.08 billion) for a Public Private Partnership model.

However, in accordance with the State’s medium-term public investment plan, about VNĐ70 trillion from Government bonds will be allocated to the MoT for all projects, including some sections of the expressway. "If all the capital is spent on the North-South Expressway, the other projects will have to stop because of capital shortage," Sơn told Vietnamplus.vn online newspaper.

Thus, TEDI has adjusted the project plan by dividing it into two phases. Accordingly, about 573km of the expressway will be completed in the first phase from 2017 to 2022, Sơn said.

The total investment for the first phase will be VNĐ88.5 trillion ($3.9 billion), with the Government expected to cover 46.8 per cent and private investors the rest.

The project’s first phase will focus on upgrading the sections of Cao Bồ (Nam Định)-Mai Sơn (Ninh Bình)-Vinh (Nghệ An) and Vĩnh Hảo-Phan Thiết (Binh Thuận)-Dầu Giây (Đồng Nai) into a four-lane expressway.

Construction of the other sections, totalling 799km, is expected to start in 2023 and finish in 2025.

The total investment for the second phase of the project will be VNĐ114.6 trillion ($5 billion). Of these, VNĐ34.3 trillion ($1.5 billion) or 30 per cent of the capital, will be funded by the State and the rest mobilised from private investors.

If the proposal is approved by the Government, the MoT expects to start construction by the end of 2017.

VNS

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