Cai Lay BOT station in wrong place: Minister Nguyen Van The needs to correct the mistake!

Mr. Nguyen Van The, when he was Deputy Minister of Transport, was the one who signed the decision to approve the Cai Lay BOT project, placing the Cai Lay BOT toll station on National Highway 1.

In 2013, Mr. Nguyen Van The - then Deputy Minister of Transport - sent a document "suggesting" to place the Cai Lay BOT toll station on National Highway 1, which is outside the bypass route, requesting Tien Giang province to agree to legalize the procedure. He was also the one who signed the decision approving this project.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The - Photo: TT

Project documents and records show that Tien Giang province followed suit in a fait accompli situation.

3 urgent dispatches

According to the documents we have, on October 28, 2013, Mr. Nguyen Van The - Deputy Minister of Transport - signed three urgent dispatches at the same time to the People's Council, People's Committee and National Assembly Delegation of Tien Giang province regarding "agreeing on the location of the toll station to recover capital for the investment project to build the national highway bypassing Cai Lay town under the BOT form".

In this document, the Ministry of Transport said that it had studied a number of locations and directly proposed to the province "to agree on the location of the toll station at km1999+900 on National Highway 1". This location is completely outside the National Highway 1 bypass through Cai Lay town (now a city).

On November 4, 2013, the People's Council and People's Committee issued a written response, agreeing to place the toll station at km1999+900 as suggested by the Ministry of Transport. Two days later, the National Assembly Delegation of Tien Giang province also issued a written response in agreement.

Document sent to Tien Giang signed by Deputy Minister Nguyen Van The in 2013

On December 19, 2013, Mr. The signed a decision approving the investment project to build National Highway 1, Cai Lay town bypass section, and to strengthen the road surface from km1987+560 to km2014, Tien Giang province under a BOT contract.

Talk toYouth, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - former director of the Department of Transport of Tien Giang province - said that in this project, Tien Giang province is only responsible for compensation and site clearance according to regulations. The compensation payment for land acquisition is also from the investor. The location of the toll station is also determined by the Ministry of Transport and then sent to the province to legalize the investment procedures.

"At that time, the province really needed this bypass project to solve the traffic congestion on National Highway 1 through Cai Lay town. When the ministry sent a document requesting a unified location for the toll station, the Department of Transport advised the Provincial People's Committee to respond. At that time, we really did not imagine the situation would be as complicated as this," said Mr. Hung.

Abnormal

On September 19, 2013, three months before approving the project to bypass National Highway 1 through Cai Lay town, Deputy Minister Nguyen Van The signed a decision to announce the investment portfolio of this project to call for investment in the form of BOT.

The list attached to this decision clearly states that the project only has a single bypass route with a length of 12km, a roadbed width of 12m, and two lanes.

Then on October 18, 2013, the Ministry of Planning and Investment sent a document to the Government Office stating that it agreed with the Ministry of Transport on the proposal for the Prime Minister to approve the policy of implementing the National Highway 1 bypass route through Cai Lay town, Tien Giang province under the BOT form.

On November 11, 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai signed a document agreeing to the investment policy of the project to build a bypass under the form of a BOT contract. At this time, the project only has a 12km bypass.

However, in the decision approving the project on December 19, 2013, there was an additional component "reinforcing the surface of National Highway 1 through Tien Giang, 26.5km long, from km1987+560 to km2014", in addition to the main component of building a new 12km bypass. This decision was also signed by Mr. The.

According to Tuoi Tre's investigation, the Ministry of Transport has prepared a plan to add a component to strengthen the road surface through Cai Lay town in advance to legalize the location of the toll station outside the bypass.

The evidence is in three urgent documents sent to the People's Council, People's Committee and National Assembly Delegation of Tien Giang province on October 28, 2013 requesting unification of toll station locations, Mr. The proposed two options for toll station placement.

Option 1 is also the "suggested" option that Tien Giang province agrees to, which is to place the road outside the bypass route. This option will ensure the payback period and financial efficiency of the project, with a toll collection period of about 10 years.

It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Transport has proactively added the component of strengthening the national highway surface through Cai Lay town along with building a bypass route to option 1. When Tien Giang province responded and agreed on the location of the toll station according to this option, it was of course necessary to accept this additional component.

As for option 2, which involves placing a toll station on the bypass, the Ministry of Transport believes that the financial efficiency is low, the toll collection period is over 30 years, and it cannot solve the congestion in Cai Lay town. If the Ministry says so, it will be difficult for Tien Giang province to choose this option.

On November 5, 2013, just one day after the People's Council and People's Committee of Tien Giang province issued a document agreeing on the location of the toll station outside the bypass route, Mr. The chaired a meeting to approve the final report of the national highway bypass project through Cai Lay town.

At this meeting, Mr. The concluded to add the component of strengthening the current National Highway 1 road surface, and at the same time change the project name to include investment in building a bypass and strengthening the road surface on National Highway 1.

And more than a month later, Mr. The signed the decision to approve this project with content that was very different from the project he also signed three months ago.

According to VAN TRUONG/Tuoi Tre