Is the starting project of North-South Expressway, Bac Giang - Lang Son, unfinished possible? A route that should have been completed a long time ago, when the situation of accidental conflict confronted, is very dangerous happened frequently. A lot of capital from the State budget has invested to build spacious offices for public agencies in all regions of the country and the capital from society has spent for the “countless” annual festivals, and so on.
On September 29th, 2019, I was honored to attend the Traffic Opening Ceremony of Expressway from Bac Giang City to Chi Lang District, Lang Son Province, when I saw the road signboards and it was very startlingly, a strange image that is unlike nobody “Dead end signboard”. The route with a length of 64km of “Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway Construction Investment Project is under the form of BOT”.
Signboard “Dead-End Road” at Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway which Traffic Opening Ceremony was hold recently on September 29
On that day, the journey from Hanoi to Lang Son for attending the ceremony, when my car entered the lane on this expressway, an official of the BOT Investor sat next to me, with his gentle tones, “Our car begin to access the expressway, you will witness an achievement after 2 years of the investor and construction contractors,” he said. Our car ran smoothly at a speed of approximately 100 km per hour (I sat behind and guess so and it was true to the reality after less than 40 minutes, the car reached the end location, the place of Traffic Opening Ceremony).
Being a man who has been involved in the construction of transport works (as direct construction, supervision consultancy, and works construction management) throughout the route, feeling in my heart was arising increasingly. Observing through the glass window, the road surface is carpeted neatly, flatly, cleanly; the strip of concrete in the middle of the road centerline that the first time in my life, I saw it smooth, steadily winding along the route like a long, beautiful silk; system of traffic cones and signboards were installed neatly, steadily, etc; almost in half of the road passing through the hills and mountains with talus reinforced with concrete frames and lush green grass like an enchanting picture. The caravan of cars placed end to end on the beautiful road with the feeling of smoothness, firmness making me feeling that this is a route built seriously and assured of quality.
The end of the road just completed is the location for the traffic opening ceremony. The grandstand had been formally decorated by the organization board. I was especially impressed that on the left side of the grandstand, there were panels depicting “Only 30 km left to arrive at Lang Son City. What a fugitive sensation! (Why did the traffic opening ceremony warn the dead end, why not arrive at the city, and so on) after overview of the entire area and heard of the reports of the Investor. Turns out, from the location of the traffic opening ceremony to the Huu Nghi border gate about 43km left has not been deployed to build yet.
Sitting next to an official of the facility sponsor for Bac Giang - Chi Lang Expressway, I was further explained, “The section of Chi Lang - Huu Nghi border gate project has been prepared with a total investment of about VND 8,200 billion. The investor worked with several banks for facility, however, it was not approved because the investment efficiency problem does not assure the capital pay-off for the facility sponsor,” he said. That official affirmed that, in the current mechanism and regulations, the facility sponsor only comes into play when the project (Chi Lang - Huu Nghi Section) is supported by the State budget and the investor’s capital meets 50% of total investment cost.
The expressway project is 30 km left to be connected seamlessly from Bac Giang to Lang Son City
The traffic opening ceremony was taken place in brief but solemn with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister, Commander of Transportation, leaders of ministries and central and provincial agencies, including Bac Giang, Lang Son, Cao Bang and Phu Yen. A coincidence makes the ceremony more meaningful that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on his way to work with Lang Son province passed through the entire Expressway has just been hold with the ribbon-cutting ceremony for traffic opening, it is also surely very excited by removing a traffic accident bottleneck, a project is marked in the very difficult period of the state budget, the shortcomings from BOT which have not been completely solved.
On the way back to Hanoi, I felt a mixed joy and sadness in my heart, glad that after nearly 45 years since the reunification of the country, for the first time, a traffic construction project with a scale of more than VND 12 trillion was completed in just after 2 years. It is possibly said that this is “one of the feats” of the transport industry. Be aware of responsibilities, leaders at all levels and people of Bac Giang and Lang Son provinces have been active in the land acquisition together with the attempt and effort of the Investor as well as hard working and utter creation of the construction Contractors has helped to reduce the total investment cost of the project and exceeded the set forth progress. The worries reminded me of “I don’t know if the dead-end knot later would not be removed, the current connection location is very abnormal, the accident would constantly lurk, then should the Investor close the road to complete the next section of Chi Lang - Huu Nghi?
The writer worries because, Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway is the arterial road connecting Hanoi capital to the Northeastern mountainous provinces, also the trade route, either the national face, or the prerequisite driving force for economic development for both provinces of Lang Son and Cao Bang is still a “dead end” so far.
Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway had been “rescued” by Deo Ca Group and implemented to reach the finish for traffic opening earlier 03 months than planned schedule.
Concerns in my mind today have been somewhat subsided, because at the Investment Promotion Conference of Lang Son Province held on September 30, the Prime Minister stated: “We need a strong economy because no solid line of defense is firm as those of a strong economy. Lang Son must join the whole country to contribute to this strategy.”
Economic development, assurance of national security and defense in the Northeastern border provinces including Lang Son and Cao Bang will be extremely difficult due to the lack of transport infrastructure, including the Bac Giang - Lang Son - Tra Linh - Cao Bang Expressway is extremely important. At this conference, the People’s Committee of Lang Son Province pledged to spend VND 1,000 billion, the Prime Minister instructed the Investor to make phasing and the related ministries to study and advise the Government in the investment support for the section from Chi Lang to Huu Nghi Border Gate. The remaining problem is the investment capital waiting for the “Hearts to Act” of the facility sponsors, because the problem of “Investment Efficiency” of Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway (including Chi Lang- Huu Nghi section) in addition to professional calculations, more responsibilities to the society and the “border areas” of the country are needed.
The Prime Minister had made steering comment that Lang Son Province “Tighten its belt to spend trillions”, we wait for the heart and bravery of the Investors, Facility Sponsors so that the Expressway section from Chi Lang - Huu Nghi border gate is soon to be constructed and the entire Bac Giang - Lang Son Expressway will be completed latest by mid-2021.
By Nguyen Chi Thanh
http://sao.baophapluat.vn/tin-tuc/chi-tiet/duong-quotcutquot-tren-dau-cao-toc-6141/
