The Ministry of Transport has submitted to the Prime Minister a proposal to adjust the planning of the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong section to a scale of 10-12 lanes.
The conclusion of the report states: The Prime Minister has directed the Ministry of Transport to advise on the investment in expanding the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong – My Thuan expressway since July 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha assigned the Ministry of Transport to study and propose investments under Document No. 6727/VPCP-CN dated August 31, 2023. During the study and proposal for adjusting the planning of the road network for the period of 2021-2025, with a vision towards 2050, the Ministry of Transport selected and worked with investors to propose the project and prepare the pre-feasibility study report. However, the implementation of the Government’s directions has been slower than expected, partly due to objective factors (waiting for the Law on Roads to take effect on January 1, 2025). Therefore, the Ministry of Transport is requested to urgently take the next steps to be able to commence the project in the second quarter of 2025.
Regarding the investment scale: Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha basically agreed with the option proposed by the Ministry of Transport and agreed upon by the investor. However, the Ministry of Transport and the investor need to discuss further with related localities to agree on the optimal investment scale, ensuring feasibility and the earliest possible construction. Traffic congestion must not occur shortly after construction. The Ministry of Transport, the investor proposing the expansion, and the consulting unit are responsible for the calculation data, forecasts, especially the traffic flow forecast.
Regarding the competent authority to implement the PPP project: In Document No. 5498/VPCP-CN dated July 20, 2023, the Prime Minister directed that “… it should be assigned to the locality as the competent authority“. Therefore, the Ministry of Transport is requested to discuss with the People’s Committee of Tien Giang province (or related localities). If agreed upon assigning a locality as the competent authority as directed by the Prime Minister, submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision in January 2025. This should be done in the spirit of ensuring convenience and capacity to organize the implementation of the project as soon as possible. If the Ministry of Transport is the competent authority to ensure compatibility in terms of organizational capacity and can expedite the investment and construction progress, report back to the Prime Minister.
The selected investor must fully meet the capacity and experience requirements
Regarding the selection of investors: Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha assigned the Ministry of Transport to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to propose a plan for selecting investors in accordance with the Law on Bidding No. 57/2024/QH15, ensuring that the selected investor fully meets the capacity and experience requirements to implement the project as soon as possible.
Currently, the Ministry of Transport has submitted to the Prime Minister a proposal to adjust the planning of the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong section to a scale of 10-12 lanes. The Ministry of Transport has received feedback from the leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment at the meeting and urgently coordinated with related localities to establish a land clearance project according to the planning scale. Coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to balance legal and feasible capital sources to hand over to localities for implementation, avoiding cost overruns and facilitating expansion investment.
