On February 9, 2023, in Da Lat city, the Provincial People's Committee of Lam Dong held a meeting with the investor consortium proposing Tan Phu - Bao Loc expressway project.

The meeting was chaired by the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee including Mr. Tran Duc Quan - Secretary, Mr. Tran Dinh Van - Permanent Deputy Secretary/Head of the National Assembly Delegation and Mr. Tran Van Hiep - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and the participation of leaders of departments of Lam Dong province. The meeting also participated by representatives of Deo Ca Group (the leading unit of the consortium), and Eximbank, Nam A Bank (invited by Lam Dong province to finance the project).

The overview of the meeting

According to the report of Deo Ca Group, the feasibility report (F/S) is being carried out. The geological survey has been done about 80%, and the work of reporting on environmental impacts, setting the policy framework for site clearance is being coordinated by investors.

Representative of Deo Ca Group said that over the past 2 years, the investors and the province’s political system have been very active in project research. They have organized a working group to learn about the project implementation model of Cao Bang province and other expressway projects implemented by Deo Ca Group such as Bac Giang - Lang Son, Trung Luong - My Thuan.

The Project Steering Committee of Lam Dong province was quickly established and headed by the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee as the Standing Deputy Committee, and together with the investor consortium made a project proposal and reported it to the Prime Minister, as well as persuade the ministries and branches to transfer competent state agencies from the Ministry of Transport to Lam Dong province and arrange the central budget capital of VND 2,000 billion to support the project.

Tan Phu - Bao Loc Expressway is the first project to be appraised by the Inter-sectoral Appraisal Council for the investment policy, the implementation process is complicated and still has many shortcomings that prolong the project. Thanks to the close coordination and drastic involvement of the local authorities, the difficulties of the project were gradually removed. Currently, the Prime Minister approved the project for investment policy in Decision No. 1386/QD-TTg dated November 10, 2022.

Mr. Ho Minh Hoang spoke at the meeting

However, there are still a number of obstacles that prevent the project from being implemented. In particular, Tan Phu - Bao Loc expressway project is not allowed to apply the revenue-sharing mechanism according to Article 82 of the PPP Law while this is a prerequisite for capital mobilization of the Project.

At the meeting, Mr. Ho Minh Hoang - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deo Ca Group proposed solutions to ensure the of the project. Mr. Ho Minh Hoang affirmed: “Deo Ca Group will actively arrange the equity of VND 1,605 billion, if necessary we will adjust the Investor's consortium in the bidding step to implement the project”.

The Chairman of Lam Dong province concluded the meeting

At the meeting, the Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee highly appreciated the efforts and responsibilities of the investor consortium, which has persisted for 2 years to solve problems and completed the feasibility study profile. At the same time, he acknowledged the sharing and support of Eximbank and Nam A bank and request these banks to commit to implementing the project. Mr. Tran Van Hiep also highly agreed with Deo Ca on applying digital technology in the project implementation and information disclosure and transparency.

Concluding the meeting, Mr. Tran Van Hiep emphasized: “Tan Phu - Bao Loc Expressway is the dream of people in the province and local authorities. It is recommended that the parties develop a detailed implementation plan and report on the results and progress of the implementation monthly. Anyway, the project must be started this year (2023), this is the political determination of the province in 2023”.

TT