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 notification 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 has 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 agrees 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 the relevant localities to agree on the optimal investment scale, ensuring feasibility and early implementation of the expansion. Traffic congestion must not occur shortly after construction. The Ministry of Transport, the project’s proposer, and consultants are responsible for the calculation data and forecasts, especially the traffic flow forecast.
Regarding the competent authority to implement the project under the PPP mode: In Document No. 5498/VPCP-CN dated July 20, 2023, the Prime Minister directed that “… it should be assigned to the local authority as the competent authority“. Therefore, the Ministry of Transport is requested to discuss with the People’s Committee of Tien Giang province (or relevant localities). If an agreement is reached on assigning a local authority as the competent authority as directed by the Prime Minister, it should be submitted to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision in January 2025. This should be done in a spirit of ensuring convenience and capacity for project implementation as soon as possible. If the Ministry of Transport is the competent authority to ensure compatibility in terms of organizational implementation capacity and can expedite the investment and construction progress, it needs to 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 will urgently coordinate with relevant localities to establish a land clearance project according to the planning scale. They will also 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 immediate implementation, avoiding additional costs and facilitating the expansion.
