Deputy Prime Minister: Cases of speculation and price hikes in materials for the North-South Expressway must be strictly handled.

Nghe An attends online conference to discuss solutions to remove obstacles in North-South expressway projects

(Baonghean.vn) - Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh emphasized that this is a key national project, but the construction progress has not met the development requirements of localities, nor has it achieved the goals set by the 13th Party Congress.

On the afternoon of June 30, an online conference continued to take place between the Government and 13 localities to discuss solutions to remove obstacles in implementing the project to build some sections on the Eastern North-South Expressway and the My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway Construction Investment Project, Phase 1.

After listening to opinions from localities, ministries and branches, concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh emphasized the important role of the North-South expressway for socio-economic development, security and defense, and people's lives.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh chaired an online conference to deploy component projects on the Eastern North-South Expressway. Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

Over the past 20 years, the country has built 1,163 km of highways and is currently continuing to build more than 900 km. The Government and the Prime Minister are very interested in directing to achieve the set goals.

With 654 km of the Project to build some sections on the North-South Expressway in the East and the Project to invest in the construction of the My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway, phase 1, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the budget has been allocated sufficiently, the construction design documents and investment procedures have been completed, and the site clearance work has basically reached more than 97.8%. These are great advantages to help us achieve the set progress target of basically completing this expressway by 2025 in places where it is really needed.

However, in practice, some difficulties have appeared such as increasing material prices, inadequate supply of roadbed materials, not meeting requirements... And if these difficulties are not resolved, the above advantages will disappear, causing waste, when these difficulties are within our ability to resolve.

Comrades Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Le Hong Vinh - Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the bridge point in Nghe An. Photo: Pham Bang

In general, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said that the Government will hold a meeting once a month to remove obstacles and difficulties to achieve the project's goals. The Ministry of Transport will hold a meeting once a week to resolve difficulties of contractors, construction units, and localities.

The Deputy Prime Minister also requested localities to focus on completing site clearance work and handing over the site to contractors before July 30, 2021. Regarding procedures for granting material mines, Resolution 60 of the Government must be strictly implemented in the spirit that mines that are operating normally must increase their capacity by 50%. Newly granted mines must be reviewed by localities, and unused mines, those with price pressure to increase prices, or hoarding goods, must be recovered, then granted to projects and investors.

“This is a key national project, so we cannot afford to have a shortage of roadbed materials. We must review and deal with the situation very strictly. The Ministry of Transport and project management boards must coordinate closely with localities to resolve this situation,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh inspects the progress of the Eastern North-South Expressway Project and the Mai Son - National Highway 45 Expressway component project. Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

The Deputy Prime Minister also assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate with other sectors to establish 5 inspection teams for the management and licensing of exploration and exploitation of minerals for common construction materials to supply for the North-South Expressway Project in 13 localities. During the inspection process, if any acts of speculation or price increases of materials for personal gain are discovered, they will be strictly handled according to regulations.

In particular, resolutely handle strictly according to the law organizations and individuals who sell materials to other organizations and individuals or do not provide minerals for common construction materials to investors and contractors as stated in the license, and at the same time revoke the granted license to issue to investors and contractors according to regulations. Mines that have been licensed but have not been exploited will be revoked according to regulations.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh agreed with the opinions of the ministries that material prices must be adjusted, so contractors must not delay progress. Regarding related technical adjustments, the Ministry of Transport will synthesize weekly to try to resolve them promptly for contractors. The banking sector will try to arrange capital sources for investment projects under the public-private partnership method./.