The North-South Expressway Project will be publicly and transparently bid.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The affirmed that there will be open and transparent bidding to select investors for the North-South expressway project.

Explaining to the National Assembly, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said that due to limited funding, some sections of the North-South Expressway selected for investment in advance have been carefully studied based on traffic volume.

Regarding site clearance, Mr. The said that it will be carried out according to the approved plan. After that, the plan will continue to be adjusted accordingly.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The.

There are 8 component projects invested in the form of BOT. Learning from previous BOT projects, these projects will be fully bid. If the first bidding is not successful, a second bidding will be held. Bidding will not be assigned as before but will be done openly and transparently, the Minister of Transport emphasized.

Mr. Nguyen Van The said that the project will be divided into many component projects to attract both large and small investors, including foreign investors. In which, the investor's equity must be at least 15-20% to select investors with real financial capacity.

Toll collection will be based on actual kilometers traveled on the highway, automatic, public and transparent. Settlement ensures the rights of investors and people. Currently, the average price is calculated at 2,500 VND/km, which is quite high compared to the people's ability. Therefore, Minister Nguyen Van The proposed that the first year the toll be 1,500 VND/km, then gradually increase to 3,400 VND/km in the last year.

Mr. The affirmed that the BOT projects in the overall North-South Expressway project will not create any problems because this is a new route. If people accept to pay the fee, they will go to the new expressway, otherwise, they will go to the old route.

The Government has proposed a roadmap for the North-South Expressway sections to be invested in during the 2017-2020 period, with a total length of 654 km, divided into 11 component projects passing through 13 provinces. The total investment for the 2017-2020 period is about VND118,716 billion.

Previously, the Government's Submission to the National Assembly stated: To ensure compensation for actual production and business costs that are reasonable, profitable, in line with the market mechanism and people's ability to pay, the Government determines the price at the time of putting into operation (about 1,500 VND/standard car/km) and the specific price for each period in the project life cycle as the basis for calculating the State's capital contribution and determining the bid package price to organize a bidding to select investors.

The highest level is 1,500 VND in the period 2021 - 2023; and the highest level is 3,400 VND for the period 2042 - 2044.

In the review report, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee said that regarding the proposal to "approve the service price framework as a basis for bidding to select investors according to the provisions of the bidding law", the Economic Committee basically agrees with the purpose of the proposal and believes that this is an important basis for bidding to select investors to ensure publicity and transparency for the Project.

The Government proposes two options: First, agree in principle to specifically determine the starting price and the price for each period as a basis for bidding to select investors according to the provisions of the bidding law in accordance with the people's ability to pay and the investors' ability to recover capital.

Second, determine market prices based on construction price indexes in each period. Regarding this content, the Economic Committee recommends choosing option 1.

According to VOV