Now, there is only an expressway axis from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho has been invested to connect socio-economic development in Mekong Delta region.
Constructing at package 6 in Than Cuu Nghia commune, Chau Thanh district (Tien Giang province), the first point connecting with Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong expressway. Photo: Huy Hung / TTXVN
However, exception from Ho Chi Minh the City - Trung Luong section has been put into operation for 10 years, two remaining sections including: Trung Luong - My Thuan and My Thuan - Can Tho are still facing many difficulties. This makes the expressway route in this area could not promoted the maximum effectiveness.
Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway is stuck again
Started over 10 years ago, until now Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway (about 51 km long with a total investment of VND 12,668 billion) is still under construction and has only reached 30% of the volume. Due to many reasons, in the period of 2009 - 2018, the project only reached about 15% of the volume and suspended construction. After the drastically directed of the Government and the Prime Minister, together with the participation in management of Deo Ca Group Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway project has just been restarted in April 2019.
Though, due to complicated legal procedures and slow credit disbursement, the project fell into a bottleneck again, directly affecting the goal of connecting the route by the end of 2020 and putting into operation in April 2021 as directed by the Prime Minister. Up to now, the total capital disbursed into the project is VND 4,276 billion; in which, equity and capital mobilized from investors are 2,500 billion dong; State budget is VND 1,776 billion. Meanwhile, bank credit capital (accounting for more than 50% of total capital) though signed but after more than 2 months has not been disbursed.
According to the representative of Trung Luong - My Thuan BOT Joint Stock Company, the bank has not disbursed capital because the competent State agency - Tien Giang PPC, has not clarified the authority to sign documents related to the project which were requested by the credit institution. Disbursements are scheduled before March 5, but so far have not been implemented. According to the terms of the credit contract, until March 16 if the loan is not disbursed, the contract will automatically expire.
To solve problems about the legal procedure for disbursement of credit capital, on February 18, Tien Giang PPC sent a written request to the Ministry of Justice for directions on the motion of syndicated banks. Specifically the authority to sign the written commitment of ticket prices and the roadmap for ticket price increase; The decision of Chairman of PPC to assign Vice Chairman PPC to sign documents related to Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway project is in accordance with the Price Law as well as the provisions of the Organization Law local government.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, Deputy General Director of Trung Luong - My Thuan BOT Joint Stock Company said that according to the plan, the investor must finish all the loading superimposed, weak soil handling and bridge foundation in April 2020. Therefore, investors need huge financial resources in March - April 2020 so they are looking forward to credit capital. If disbursement cannot be made, it will greatly affect the connection of the route by the end of 2020 as the direction of the Prime Minister.
Along with capital constraints, the project is currently facing difficulties in construction on the site. The weak ground of the Mekong Delta region made construction is more difficult and takes longer time. Along with that, the situation of saline intrusion takes place in many localities in the region, greatly affecting the ability to supply materials for construction sites.
Mr. Nguyen The Hai, Head of Supervision Consulting Package XL-08 said that until April 2020, the package needs about 80,000 m3 of sand, more than 21,000m3 of gravel macadam for superimposed load. Due to the local authorities are implementating the prevention of salinity in rivers, the supply of materials must be moved by detour in small canals, on small barges, affecting the volume of material gathered. Currently, investors and contractors must increase other sources of supply to meet the needs of the project.
For bid packages that are behind schedule, Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh said that the investor cooperates with project management and supervision consultants to evaluate the possibility of completing the package according to the committed schedule. For example, Hoang An contractor at package XL-08, the progress was behind the schedule about 13% so the investor cut the volume for other contractors to accelerate the progress. If there is no solution, the investor will continue to cut the volume or replace by another contractor.
Waiting for a sync connection
Implementing Resolution 120 / NQ-CP of the Government on sustainable developing and adapting to climate change of the Mekong Delta, from 2017 to now, the National Assembly and the Government have agreed to allocate large capital sources to deploy transport projects in the area. However, the slow implementation of the projects has greatly affected the transportation connecting Mekong Delta.
Currently, the limitation of traffic route from the Ho Chi Minh City to the southwestern provinces is causing congestion and traffic jams, especially during holidays, New Year and weekends. Experts said that when Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway is put into operation (as planned in April 2021), if My Thuan - Can Tho highway and My Thuan 2 bridge has not been completed, this will be the new "bottlenecks" of traffic in the area.
Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh - Trung Luong expressway (more than 40 km) has been put into use from 2010 with average flow about 47,000 vehicles/day and night. However, due to toll collection stopped from the beginning of 2019, traffic and vehicle load on the route are not controlled, causing serious waste; the traffic speed is reduced, the road is downgraded, no maintenance funding, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to deploy toll collection soon to avoid budget loss and get maintainance cost.
Mr. Nguyen Ba Hung, representative of BMT Construction Investment Joint Stock Company, said that Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway project has an end point in An Thai Trung (Cai Be district, Tien Giang), connecting to National road 30 with a branch to Dong Thap province and a branch to National Road 1. Currently National Road 30 has been burdened with a very large traffic load, often congestion on holidays, New Year, weekends, especially at An Thai Trung junction point. When run over Trung Luong - My Thuan section, all vehicles heading to Can Tho must direct toward National Road 1, which will surely cause serious traffic jams.
According to Mr. Nguyen Ba Hung, in the current context, to promote the efficiency of the expressway, the Government should deploy the My Thuan - Can Tho section as soon as possible to facilitate inter-regional connectivity, effectively promote the HCMC - Can Tho expressway.
Recently, the Vietnam Association of Road System Investors (VARSI) also sent a letter to the Prime Minister on the “urgency of the completion and synchronous operation of the entire expressway from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho”; in which, VARSI stated that, if not soon putting into operation the expressway from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho, the “bottlenecks” will be created, causing congestion and affect the development of the area.
For My Thuan - Can Tho expressway, the Ministry of Transport has approved the first-stage feasibility report in the form of public-private partnership with a total investment of VND 5,370 billion; then organize prequalification and select investors. However, due to the change in the State's supportive policy to accordance with the law, the MOT canceled the prequalification to select investors and adjusted the project. Recently, the MOT has approved the Feasibility Study Report on adjusting the My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway project with a total investment of VND 4,758 billion and a state budget of VND 932 billion.
According to VARSI, the project now has a lot of workloads such as prequalification, investment bidding; negotiate and sign project contracts, credit contracts; fulfill procedures for disbursement of State budget capital; ground clearance ... made the project could not start in the first quarter of 2020 under the direction of the Prime Minister.
Therefore, VARSI proposes the Government to consider the regulation “Selecting investors in special cases” under Article 26 of the Bidding Law to shorten the process of selecting investors, in order to ensure a sync completion with Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway and My Thuan Bridge 2 being implemented.
With the needs of socio-economic development in the Mekong Delta region, the soon connection of the expressway from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho will contribute to create new "resilience", remove "bottlenecks" of traffic for the region. In the immediate future, it is necessary to remove difficulties for Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway project to finish in April 2021 and deploy My Thuan - Can Tho section with facilitation.
Tien Luc
