In the morning of September 27th, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited and checked the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway Project. During visit, the Prime Minister handed over the decision on the implementation of the Committee's conclusion on allocation plan against total central budget revenue in 2018 for pending projects, including Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc handed over the decision approving the allocation of VND 2,186 billion of budget capital for the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway Project.
The Prime Minister handed over the decision approving the allocation of VND 2,186 billion of budget capital for the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway Project to Mr. Le Van Huong - Chairman of Tien Giang Provincial People's Committee and Mr. Mai Manh Hong - General Director of BOT Trung Luong - My Thuan JSC, the Prime Minister recommended that: “Here, the capital support of the budget already awarded, you guys do not have to worry anymore, just try to accelerate the progress and drastically complete the project in accordance with the plan which is expected to be completed on December 31st, 2020 and put into use in 2021 as committed by the Government, investors to the country, and the people". At the same time, the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Finance and Tien Giang Provincial People's Committee to disburse on the project promptly.
According to Mr. Mai Manh Hong, Trung Luong - My Thuan BOT JSC has worked with banks to appraise the project and has pledged to inject capital for the project under letter of credit. “We hope that, by obtaining the Prime Minister's direction today, the banks must also be very aggressive to sign loan contract with investors within a short time", he said.
Before that, at the meeting of the People's Committee of Tien Giang province, Trung Luong - My Thuan BOT JSC and the sponsor banks committed to complete project appraisal on September 9th, 2019 and sign facility agreement with the project investors within September 2019.
At such meeting, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Dung, Deputy General Director of VietinBank (the Arranger of the capital-financing banks) pledged that Vietinbank will strictly comply with the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue at previous meeting with the People's Committee of Tien Giang Province in late August 2019.
However, up to this point, the facility agreement between the investors and the banks involved in the project has not been signed.
During the visit to Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway on September 27th, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed involved parties to put this highway project into operation on schedule set forth. Meanwhile, General Director of Trung Luong - My Thuan BOT JSC said that the current construction has reached nearly 30% of the workload, while the project completion time is very short, only about 15 months left, is it possible to open to traffic as requested by the Prime Minister?
Mr. Mai Manh Hong said: “We are trying our best. The Prime Minister's decision on allocating VND 2,186 billion of capital to invest in the project is a motivation for us to strive harder. We decided to implement construction 24/24, working 3 shifts/ all day and night to ensure the progress required by the Government, without missing out the with people in the Mekong Delta and the country".
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited and presented gifts to investors, contractors and engineers, workers at the construction site.
During the visit and working trip this morning, the Prime Minister praised the People's Committee of Tien Giang Province, investors and banks (Vietinbank, Agribank, BIDV), for their goodwill working side-by-side together to solve the project's difficulties. At the same time, the Prime Minister reminded about agreeing to join the consortium of VPBank's funding banks but then withdrew, causing confusion for investors and projects.
Public Relations Department
