Bac Giang-Lang Son Expressway (Bac Giang-Chi Lang section) has nearly 64 km long, including 4 lanes and 2 emergency stopping lanes with designed speed of 100 km/h, invested by Bac Giang-Lang Son BOT Joint Stock Company, officially opened to traffic on September 29.
Mr. Ho Minh Hoang, Chairman of Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company, reported on the progress of Bac Giang-Lang Son Expressway BOT project to Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The
On September 29, People's Committee of Lang Son province and the investor, Bac Giang-Lang Son BOT Joint Stock Company (a subsidiary of Deo Ca Group), will organize the inauguration ceremony of Bac Giang – Lang Son Expressway after more than 2 years of official constructing.
Bac Giang-Lang Son Expressway will open on September 29
Mr. Pham Minh Duc, Deputy General Director of Bac Giang-Lang Son BOT Joint Stock Company, said that Bac Giang-Lang Son Expressway Project (Project) was approved by the Government to invest in the Document No. 2167/TTg-KTN dated October 30, 2014 and the Ministry of Transport (MOT) approved the investment of Bac Giang-Lang Son BOT Joint Stock Company in Decision 1249/QD-BGTVT dated April 9, 2015. The project including 2 components: Component of National Road 1 (strengthening the road surface of National Road 1 from Km1 + 800 - Km106 + 500) with a total length of about 110 km; Expressway component (Bac Giang-Lang Son expressway section Km45 + 100 - Km108 + 500). Total investment of the whole Project is 12,189 billion.
Bac Giang-Lang Son BOT Project has the total length of nearly 170 km, including 2 components: Constructing 64 km of expressways section from Km45 + 100 - Km108 + 500 and the component of strengthening the road surface of National Road 1, Km1 + 800 - Km106 + 500 (105 km long). The project has a total investment of over 12,000 billion VND and was started in July 2015.
The project was started in 2015 but due the management and financial capacity of investors are weak, unable to mobilize investment capital, the project was nearly 2 years behind schedule (QL1 component reached 13% of output; expressway component has not implemented yet). The head of previous investor, Mr. Nguyen Van Duong (UDIC Company) was criminally prosecuted in the case of high technology gambling. The project has come standstill, many contractors are on the verge of bankrupt because they have advanced the fund of hundreds billion dong to implement the project. The mounting debt are out of control, some contractors have thought to kill themselve because there is “no way out”.
In June 2017, on the basis of reporting to the Ministry of Transport, the new investor under Deo Ca Group was invited to propose solutions to implement and solve project problems, including: adjustment of the route, arrangement of public services, handle credit and finance, eliminate weak contractors, disburse for series of contractors that revive them from the deadlock.
According to Mr. Duc, when participating in the Project, Deo Ca Group had many problems and bad consequences from the old investor. In which, Trial Council of the High People's Court in Hanoi proposed Phu Tho provincial police continue to investigate and clarify phase 2 of the case about Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company; Khu Dong Real Estate Investment and Trading Co., Ltd; Saigon Alpha Real Estate Trading Floor Co., Ltd related to money laundering of Nguyen Van Duong (Chairman of UDIC), if any violations shall be handled in accordance to law provisions”.
Workers are paving the asphalt road surface before opening
That proposal has directly affected businesses and project activities, causing panic in public opinion, strategic partners, contractors, investors, and shareholders are worried, directly affecting the prestige and reputation of the new investors. At the same time, the above information has caused a lot of difficulties for investors in contacting and performing commitments with the Government, Ministry of Transport and relevant local authorities… in order to accelerate the Project, ensuring the completion on schedule in 2019; At the same time, Deo Ca Group will approac and participate in and handling existing problems at Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway Project.
On March 14, 2019, in Document No. 41/CAT-ANĐT, the Security Service of Investigation Police of Phu Tho Province and Phu Tho Provincial People's Procuracy conducted verification that: “Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company is not related to Nguyen Van Duong's money laundering”, whereby promptly preventing misinformation as mentioned above.
The project is concluded by the State Auditor in Notice No. 420/KTNN-TH dated August 30, 2017: “The oder and procedures for selecting Investors, investor capacity and project contract negotiation is basically implemented according to the provisions of Decree No.15/2015/ND-CP of February 14, 2015 on investment with public-private partners”.
64 km of Bac Giang-Lang Son expressway is newly built, the starting point at Km45 + 100 (intersecting with National Road 1 in Mai Sao commune, Chi Lang district, Lang Son province) and ending at Km108 + 500, connecting with the end point of National Road 1, Hanoi-Bac Giang section. The road has a width of 25 m, including 4 lanes and 2 emergency stopping lanes, with a design speed of 100 km/h.
After more than 2 years of facing many difficulties with the goal of tightly controlling the the reality cost to close to total investment capital, in the sprint stage, some contractors have exposed poor capacity, not completing the contracted work. However, with experience in handling common problems encountered in previous projects, the investor has directed strong contractors to receive the workload. Up to now, the project has been completed, creating trust for the people.
According to the representative of Deo Ca Group, more than 1 year ago - since March 2018, the National Road 1 component was completed and put into operation, contributing to improve transport capacity, minimize traffic accidents, and ensure traffic safety on National Road 1 through the area of Bac Giang and Lang Son provinces. Up to now, the expressway component has been completed, not only to compensate for the delay of the previous 2 years but also 3 months ahead of the schedule approved by the Ministry of Transport. The completeion of the project eliminate the stagnant premise of expressway projects in Vietnam, in the past, no project could be completed within 5 years, so Bac Giang-Lang Son expressway project was completed in just over 2 years is an exploit.
The project has been finished thanks to the attention and support of the local authorities and the people of Bac Giang and Lang Son provinces in conducting ground clearance. The completion urshered in a new expectation for a modern road serving people and being a driving force for socio-economic development not only for Lang Son, Bac Giang; Affirming the capacity and experience of domestic contractors and investors, the smooth coordination of local competent state agencies in solving problems will decide the quality and progress of the project.
However, the end point of the project is still 30km from Lang Son City. This will be a traffic bottleneck in the coming time which need to be overcome soon by investing in Huu Nghi - Chi Lang road section through Lang Son province. Currently, the section of Huu Nghi - Chi Lang Expressway has ensured adequate legal basis and increased investment efficiency due to optimization to reduce total investment by the subdivision solution. However, this project has not been implemented yet because the funding from the stakeholders has not been determined, affecting the base to implement Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway connecting Lang Son province with Cao Bang province
After being put into operation (expected in January 2020), Bac Giang expressway will shorten travel time from Hanoi to Lang Son from 3.5 hours to about 2.5 hours compared to National Road 1
“The expressway Hanoi - Bac Giang - Lang Son - Cao Bang is the premise to broaden the trade gate between Vietnam - China on a large scale, creating a breakthrough in economic development - social, security and defense cooperation, asserting territorial sovereignty and proving integration capacity, contributing to economic development for the community of nations in the region. However, the crucial route has still stop at Mai Sao commune, Huu Lung district (Lang Son), needing the attention from parties to soon complete” - Mr. Pham Minh Duc said.
In the afternoon of September 24, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The directly inspected the construction quality of Bac Giang-Lang Son expressway before open.
Speaking at the construction site, Minister Nguyen Van The said that two years ago, when changind the investor of Bac Giang-Lang Son expressway, the road had not been formed because the land clearance was not completed. However, after 2 years, with the capacity of investors, along with the support from the credit capital of banks, the investor has arranged about VND 10,000 billion to basically complete the construction of the entire route.
According to the Minister of Transport, the process of checking the construction quality shows that the asphalt surface is relatively smooth, enable to circulate smoothly on entire of the route. However, there are still some unfinished items such as signs, reflective paint, ... At the same time, some locations due to constructing during ground clearance and some sections have not been cleaned, so travel has not guaranteed maximum smoothness.
“In the coming time, investors need to complete the remaining items so that the Bac Giang - Lang Son route becomes one of the key highways to ensure quality, progress and beauty, service. good for the local socio-economic development process” - Minister Nguyen Van The said.
Van Duan
https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su/duong-cao-toc-bac-giang-lang-son-truoc-gio-g-thong-xe-20190926082912101.htm
