Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: The goal of having over 3,000 km of highway nationwide by 2025 will be completed.

On the morning of June 18, in Ho Chi Minh City, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pressed the button to start construction on three key transport projects connecting the southern region, including Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway and Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot Expressway.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and delegates pressed the button to start construction of the Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 project and the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau and Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot expressways.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said he was delighted to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of three national transport infrastructure projects with a total length of 247 km and a total investment of more than VND115,000 billion, held simultaneously at three locations: Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Dak Lak.

“This is a series of key projects of the Transport sector that will be started this June. Yesterday (June 17), we started the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang project and coming up on June 25 is the Ring Road 4 - Hanoi Region project with a length of over 112 km and a total investment of over VND85 trillion; the Cao Lanh - An Huu expressway with a length of 27 km and an investment of over VND5.8 trillion connecting the two provinces of Dong Thap and Tien Giang, connecting the two vital expressways of the Mekong Delta region,” said the Prime Minister.

According to the Prime Minister, in the period 2000 - 2021, the whole country has only invested in and put into operation 1,163 km of highways. Meanwhile, the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress sets a target of having about 5,000 km of highways nationwide by 2030. The target by 2025 is to have 3,000 km and by 2026 - 2030, strive to have an additional 2,000 km of highways.

"Thus, in the 9-year period from 2021 to 2030, we need to invest and build nearly 4 times the number of kilometers of highways built in the past 20 years. From 2021 to now, the whole country has inaugurated and put into operation an additional 566 kilometers of highways, bringing the total number of highways in the country to 1,729 kilometers. Currently, many highway projects are under construction, having started construction until the end of June 2023, which is 1,756 kilometers. If we are determined and strive, we can basically complete the goal of having over 3,000 kilometers nationwide by 2025," the Prime Minister emphasized.

The head of the Government said that currently, many expressway projects are being accelerated by the Ministry of Transport and localities in carrying out procedures to submit to competent authorities for approval of investment policies. This is the premise for successfully implementing the target of 5,000km of expressway by 2030.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh gave a directive speech.

3 special mechanisms to help speed up progress

According to the Prime Minister, today, in Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Dak Lak jointly started construction of 3 expressway projects including Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 Project; Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project; Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot Expressway Project. These are projects that apply specific mechanisms such as promoting decentralization, the Central Government assigns localities to be the competent authorities to implement the project; applying the mechanism of mobilizing resources combining the Central and local budgets; applying designated bidding to select construction contractors, thereby shortening the preparation time.

To implement the projects, in addition to capital, localities have mobilized the entire political system, the support and sharing of the people, and sacrificed personal interests for the common good, so the site clearance work of all 3 projects has basically ensured progress.

“I commend Ho Chi Minh City for handing over 87% of the construction site in a very short time. This is a miracle to date due to the complexity of site clearance in the inner city, the large scale of compensation, and the impact on many people...”, said the Prime Minister.

In addition, the Prime Minister also emphasized that all levels and sectors, especially the Ministry of Transport and localities where the project passes, have had to carry out a huge amount of work: implementing investment preparation, making technical designs and estimates, selecting contractors, clearing land, etc.

The Prime Minister said that today's results are very remarkable. However, this is only the first step, the upcoming work is still very large and full of challenges such as continuing to clear the remaining locations, including many locations with high population density, prone to complaints; preparing a huge volume of construction materials and waste disposal sites that require the active participation of localities in granting mining licenses; constructing a very large volume of works in a short period of time and being affected by weather conditions...

In order for the project to be completed safely, with quality and on schedule, the Prime Minister requested that projects must ensure safety, technical, aesthetic and ecological environment; not unreasonably increase capital, not divide bidding packages; fight corruption, negativity, group interests and waste at all stages.

Finally, the Prime Minister emphasized that projects must ensure the harmony of interests of the State, people and businesses; promptly reward good performance and strictly handle violations.