Prime Minister requests 'no incidents causing social outrage' at BOT stations

On the morning of November 8, while chairing a meeting of the Government Standing Committee to listen to reports on difficulties in BOT projects, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stated that investing in infrastructure construction in this form is necessary and in line with policy.

"We must strongly socialize resources in the context of a lack of state capital. The world also applies this method," he said.

The Prime Minister highly appreciated the efforts to overcome the complicated security and order situation at some BOT stations and the State Audit's audit of the stations to eliminate unreasonable costs.

He requested that authorities continue to focus on thoroughly overcoming problems in BOT projects and researching comprehensive solutions.

"It is necessary to ensure the interests of the state, investors, and people; have a correct and transparent financial plan, not push investment costs too high and not collect taxes in a rush, prices that are not suitable for the people, but do not make it difficult for investors," the Prime Minister stated.

The Government leader also emphasized the need to ensure security and order at BOT stations, resolutely and strictly handle cases of causing disturbances and disrupting security and order; at the same time, listen to handle and thoroughly resolve existing problems and difficulties, and prevent incidents that cause social outrage.

Regarding non-stop electronic toll collection, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Transport to inspect, supervise and take full responsibility for this work nationwide; ensuring the roadmap for switching to automatic toll collection has been approved.

According to the report of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry is currently managing 63 BOT projects. In 2017, the Ministry stopped investing in 13 projects that were under study or had just approved project proposals on existing roads.

Since 2014, the Ministry of Transport has coordinated with the State Audit, the Government Inspectorate and inspectors of ministries and branches to take part in all investment projects in the form of public-private partnerships; to date, there have been 48 inspection conclusions for 50 projects, 61 audit conclusions for 55 projects (some projects have been inspected and audited twice).

The Ministry of Transport also said that units have installed and commercially operated 25 non-stop automatic toll stations, are installing 5 stations, and strive to install automatic toll collection at all stations by the end of 2019.