After a lot of efforts, putting aside the difficulties about the financial plan that caused damage to itself, Bac Giang - Lang Son BOT Company officially put this Expressway into operation for free during Tet holiday, starting from 0h January 15, 2020.
The free operation of Bac Giang –Lang Son Expressway during the Lunar New Year will affect the revenue estimated about VND 45 billion. For a BOT project that is experiencing negative cash flow during the first period of operation, this is the efforts of investor and sponsor bank Vietinbank.
With the desire to support people, Bac Giang - Lang Son BOT Company proactively petitioned Lang Son Provincial People's Committee to put the project into operation for free to reduce traffic accidents, timely serving the travel need of people in the traditional Tet holiday, and whereby to verify and evaluate the overall operation of the whole route. On the afternoon of January 10, 2020, the People's Committee of Lang Son province held a meeting to evaluate the preparation and approval of putting the project (Bac Giang - Lang Son highway) into operation as proposed by the investor.
Through free operating time, investors will evaluate the entire toll collection system, traffic safety assurance system, continue to review, collate data and assess traffic flow, and other influences to negotiate with Lang Son province about the solutions to overcome shortcomings of financial options (including revenue impact) in order to ensure long – term safe & uninterrupted operation for project in the future.
Serving Bac Giang - Lang Son expressway for free on the occasion of traditional New Year is a humane work for the people and society of the Deo Ca Group investor although this project is still inadequate. Last Tet holiday, Deo Ca Group also put Cu Mong tunnel into free operation to serve the traveling needs of people before officially charging.
The operation of Bac Giang - Lang Son expressway has put an end to the stagnation of the project for over the past 5 years. This success proves that, when a project is in trouble, if there is close guidance from the Government, ministries, the management of capable investors, the drastically participation of the government in clearance and appropriate support of banks will remove the bottlenecks to bring the project to the destination on time.
In the immediate future, investors will have to solve the unexpected financial problem due to the removal of 1 toll station, free and reduced fees for nearly 5,000 vehicles. In addition, the Chi Lang-Huu Nghi Expressway has not completed so the road just only reach Chi Lang city, there are 30km left to Lang Son city and 43km to Huu Nghi border gate is unfinished.
Investing in the form of public-private partnership is the right investment policy successfully implemented by many countries in the world with input facilities, the commitment of the parties on finance is always guaranteed, standard and not retrospectively, but in our country, the policy mechanism for this form is still inadequate.
Some state agencies, a part of the media and many people think that the investor is the contractor, the total investment is the total investment capital, the forecasted flow is always smaller than reality (all are is a group benefit) so the way of interacting to solve the work as well as the media has an inaccurate view of PPP cooperation investment. Instead of treating equal partners, they often impose, change or oppose even when the roadmap for toll collection has been agreed upon for adjustment.
The progress of the project is entangled with legal issues (when the investors do not guarantee capability), technical solutions (incorrect alignment), interest rates (according to regulations are much lower than the bank's practice), disputes between investors and contractors (when there are many “investors of investors”, “contractors of contractor”,etc). The project completed in 2 years has proved that the public-private partnership (PPP) model is preeminent and needs to be promoted.
The legalization of the public-private partnership model needs to be considered when Party A is a competent state agency (including many related agencies, people) and Party B (only investors & banking) in order to move towards a model of international integration PPP, it is necessary to adjust according to reality to ensure a fair and equitable then domestic and foreign investment will be attracted. Only when Party A reduces the binding of many other parties, complies with the contractual commitments and Party B is responsible for its products and services, the transport infrastructure will hope to take new steps forward. Avoid the situation when the investor signs a project contract with the State and the contract value is frequently changed after the consulting of post-inspection agency.
With the motto “find a way instead of an exit”, Deo Ca Group mentioned, together with the operation for free of the expressway , they will continue with Lang Son province and the bank to solve the outstanding problems. Bac Giang - Lang Son BOT Company has also proposed the Provincial People's Committee to report to the Provincial Party Committee, Provincial People's Council and Lang Son National Assembly Delegation on the difficult situation of the financial plan and then report to the Government for issuing solutions to supplement the State budget capital to ensure the rationality of the financial plan to ensure the stable and long-term operation.
The first vehicles go on the expressway at Chi Lang district:
T.T
