Agree on the plan to build the North-South expressway section through Nghe An

Attending the meeting were Mr. Huynh Thanh Dien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of relevant departments and branches.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Le

The North-South Expressway project from Nghi Son, Thanh Hoa province to Bai Vot, Ha Tinh province is more than 94km long.

The section passing through Nghe An province alone has 5 districts and towns affected, including: Hoang Mai town, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc, and Hung Nguyen districts.

Through the review results, the addition of some affected items according to the requests of districts, towns and the Provincial People's Committee, the plan has been adjusted by the Ministry of Transport to be closer to the actual situation.

In particular, the plan for intersections, 4 overpasses, 16 culverts under residential roads, the road system, lighting, resettlement area construction plan, housing relocation plan, public works relocation plan, planning and design of mining points, material gathering areas for the project... basically meets the requirements of economic development and national defense consolidation in the districts and towns when the highway project is built.

Comrade Huynh Thanh Dien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee affirmed: Nghe An province will closely coordinate with the Ministry of Transport, creating favorable conditions for site clearance as well as designing mining points to serve construction when the project is implemented. Photo: Thanh Le.

For the connection points from some routes to the expressway, the Ministry of Transport and the Provincial People's Committee still maintain the plan of opening 5 connection points including: the connection point at National Highway 48D through Hoang Mai town, 48B - Quynh Luu district, National Highway 7A through Dien Chau, N5 road in Nghi Loc district and the connection point on National Highway 46 in Hung Nguyen district.

In addition, the intersections through residential areas and industrial parks, the Ministry of Transport and the Provincial People's Committee agreed with the consultant's proposal to build an overpass over the highway, to minimize the impact on people.

Speaking at the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien affirmed: This is a large and important project, having a great impact on the socio-economic development of the province.

Deputy Director of the Department of Transport spoke at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Le.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien said that it is impossible to apply the designs of normal projects to expressways. Therefore, the consulting unit needs to absorb the recommendations of the locality to adjust the design appropriately according to the criteria of the expressway: ensuring width, height, lighting system, service roads, infrastructure of industrial parks, etc. must take into account to ensure long-term development of the socio-economic development of localities.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien hopes that the Ministry of Transport will soon approve the project to quickly start construction. Nghe An province will closely coordinate with the Ministry of Transport to create favorable conditions for site clearance as well as design mining points to serve construction when the project is implemented.

Conference scene. Photo: Thanh Le.

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat affirmed that the expressway will be given top priority; agreeing with the view that the standards of other routes should not be applied to expressways, the Ministry of Transport will continue to consider local proposals to complete appropriate designs.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat requested Nghe An province and localities where the project passes through to continue to do a good job of propaganda to create high consensus among the people. For the consulting unit, Project Management Board 6 will review the proposals of the locality to adjust the design appropriately, minimizing the impact on people's lives.

Require relevant parties to focus on speeding up progress to approve the project in July 2018; promptly hand over milestones and land to promptly start the project in 2019.