Transport sector to focus on key national projects in 2020

The meeting to review the Ministry of Transport's performance in 2019

In 2019, the MoT has made some improvements in its performance despite a number of difficulties. The ministry is estimated to disburse VND26.7 trillion ($1.16 billion) for projects in 2019, accounting for 88.6 per cent of the total amount that the government assigned to the sector.

Regarding legislation, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan said that the ministry completed its tasks in 2019, thus contributing to facilitating business activities.

The ministry also strengthened the quality of state management and the progress of projects. During the year, 16 transport projects were put into operation and 15 others kicked off construction. Especially the ministry focused preparations on key national transport projects, namely the Eastern Cluster of the North-South Expressway, North-South High-speed Railway, and Long Thanh International Airport.

Also importantly, traffic accidents fell in 2019. According to Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho, 17,626 traffic accidents happened during the year, killing over 7,600 people, injuring over 12,620 others, down 5.06, 7.15, and 6.24 per cent on-year, respectively.

Despite the improvements, there are some shortcomings that need to be dealt with in the coming time, including difficulties in the legislation, disbursement of public investment, sluggish implementation in some projects, as well as issues in equitisation and problems at build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects.

Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung made a speech at the meeting

Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung highly appreciated the achievements of the transport sector, while asking it to soon resolve the shortcomings to facilitate the nation's socio-economic development.

Particular, the Deputy PM asked the MoT to soon build an action plan to realise the government’s new Resolution 01 and Resolution 02, focusing on the legislation, and to concentrate on restructuring and reorganising the sector, and to build planning in 2021-2030 for the road, railway, seaport, airport, and waterway segments.

Dung also urged the MoT to implement the key national transport projects, while closely working with other ministries, agencies, and localities to ensure traffic safety and reduce traffic jams.