On September 27, representatives of investors of Bac Giang - Lang Son expressway project said it is expected that this route will be opened on September 29. The route has a total length of nearly 64km, a width of 25m, including 4 lanes and 2 emergency stopping lanes with a design speed of 100 km/h.
Bac Giang-Lang Son Expressway is ready to open. Photo: DINH HOA
Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway project was approved by the Government on October 30, 2014 and Ministry of Transport approved the investment in Decision 1249/QD-BGTVT dated April 9, 2015. The project is implemented by Bac Giang - Lang Son BOT Joint Stock Company (Investor), including 02 components: Component of National Road 1 (strengthening of road surface of National Road No. 11 section from Km1 + 800 - Km106 + 500) with a total length of about 110km ; Component of expressway (Bac Giang - Lang Son expressway, section Km45 + 100 - Km108 + 500) has a total length of about 64 km. The total investment of the whole Project is VND 12,189 billion.
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.
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.
The route is located in the corridor connecting Hanoi Capital to the Northeast border area of the country
In 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 completion of Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway Project in just over 2 years is considered as a miracle.
The project has been finished thanks to local authorities, the people of Bac Giang and Lang Son provinces for the attention and support in implementing ground clearance. A modern road has been opened to serve people and being the driving force to promote socio-economic development not only for Lang Son, Bac Giang province. At the same time, confirming the capacity and experience of domestic contractors and investors.
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.
The expressways from Hanoi capital to Bac Giang, Lang Son and Cao Bang is the premise to open the trading door between Vietnam and other countries in the region, contributing to making a breakthrough in socio-economic development, nation defense and security cooperation.
By MANH HUNG
https://www.qdnd.vn/kinh-te/tin-tuc/tuyen-cao-toc-bac-giang-lang-son-san-sang-thong-xe-592109
