The Road Ahead: ‘Beating the Sun, Conquering the Rain’, Forging Ahead with the 3,000-km Expressway Goal

Many expressway projects will be completed 3 to 6 months ahead of schedule

At meetings or on-site inspections to promote expressway projects in particular and transport infrastructure projects in general, the Prime Minister always emphasizes the spirit of “only discussing how to do, not discussing how not to do”, and “overcoming the sun and winning against the rain”. How is the Ministry of Transport spreading this spirit on construction sites, Mr. Deputy Minister?

Deputy Minister Nguyen Duy Lam: The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Ministers have regularly visited, inspected, and urged the progress of key projects and programs across the country. This is not only a great encouragement and motivation for the staff of the transport sector but also provides very specific directions, with clear assignments of individuals and tasks, to promptly remove difficulties and obstacles. Typically, for the North-South Expressway project in the 2017-2020 period and even the 12 expressway projects being implemented in the 2021-2025 period, despite many difficulties and challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, material shortages, price surges, and unpredictable weather, on the construction site, many officials, engineers, and workers have been away from their families for many months, even on holidays and Tet holidays. They volunteered to stay with the machines and the road so that the construction site would not stop or be interrupted, maintaining “3 shifts and 4 teams”, striving to overcome difficulties to bring the projects to the finish line on time as required by the Prime Minister, bringing the total length of expressways in Vietnam to 2,021 km so far.

Similarly, for the North-South Expressway project in the 2021-2025 period and the expressway projects on the East-West axis, the belt road, and in the localities, the whole political system has been mobilized to participate in site clearance, ministries and branches have actively coordinated, and investors have completed procedures to synchronously start the projects after 1 year of investment policy approval. Up to now, the implementation of the projects has met and exceeded the set plan, and some projects with favorable conditions are being promoted by the units to strive to complete 3 to 6 months ahead of schedule.

Enhancing predictability and removing “bottlenecks” at construction sites

The shortage of filling materials is one of the “bottlenecks” and constant concerns in transport infrastructure projects, which is the main reason for the slow progress of the projects. So, how has the Ministry of Transport removed and is removing these bottlenecks, Mr. Deputy Minister?

Deputy Minister Nguyen Duy Lam: Based on practical experience gained from previous projects, the Ministry of Transport has reported to the competent authority to issue special mechanisms in assigning mines directly to contractors without having to perform licensing procedures according to the Law on Minerals, and to increase the capacity of mines that are being exploited… to shorten the time for implementing procedures. The Ministry of Transport directs investors and consulting units to work with localities, carefully survey to identify mines that meet technical standards and have enough reserves to supply the project right from the step of formulating investment projects; direct investors to actively work with localities to speed up the implementation of procedures for assigning construction material mines to serve the project.

At first, localities were confused in implementing the assignment of mines under the special mechanism, especially in agreeing on compensation and transfer prices. The Ministry of Transport has closely coordinated with localities and, from practical issues at construction sites, promptly reported to the Prime Minister to direct localities to establish working groups to remove difficulties, together with investors and contractors, to work and agree with owners on transfer and rental prices, ensuring compliance with the State’s regulations on compensation prices, and not causing a situation of speculation, price gouging, or “bullying”. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has provided detailed guidance to create favorable conditions for localities to organize the implementation, so the source of filling material has been unblocked, ensuring sufficient supply for projects.

There is only a little more than 1 year left in the term of the XIII Party Congress, while the workload is still very large. Please tell us about the breakthrough solutions of the Ministry of Transport to achieve the goal of completing 3,000 km of expressways by 2025?

Deputy Minister Nguyen Duy Lam: The achievements so far have been very positive, and the completed projects have promoted investment efficiency. However, the Ministry of Transport also identifies that these are only initial results; the remaining tasks ahead are still very arduous and challenging. However, with the current momentum, unity in thinking and action, especially with the close attention and direct and regular leadership and direction of the Party, the Government, the Prime Minister, and the synchronous and effective participation of ministries, branches, and localities, we will have great confidence to strive to achieve the set goals.

And to achieve this goal, first of all, the Ministry of Transport has directed and requested all civil servants, public employees, and employees in the transport sector, the team of consulting supervisors, contractors, and especially the team of engineers, workers, and employees to stick to the project sites, continue to maintain and promote the spirit and determination to strive, all for the benefit of the people, the nation, and the country; focus highly, strive to compete, unite, and support each other to overcome all difficulties and challenges with the spirit of “only discussing how to do, not discussing how not to do”, if we have been determined, we must be more determined, if we have been drastic, we must be more drastic, the next project must be faster, better, and more synchronous than the previous one; this spirit and determination must be materialized through specific actions and substantive results, completing projects ahead of schedule while ensuring the quality, technical and artistic requirements of the project; focusing on a number of specific tasks as follows:

First: Project Management Boards closely monitor the implementation of projects; identify critical paths with specific solutions and detailed schedules, inspect each construction team and contractor to urge the progress of the project. Focus on resolving internal procedures to support the construction site to speed up progress. The Boards must comply with the contract and the actual construction situation to be flexible in disbursement to help the teams speed up construction; at the same time, they must strictly control each stage and procedure to ensure compliance with the law, absolutely not causing negativity and violations.

Second: Require consulting units to closely monitor the site, always have staff on-site to closely monitor the construction process, quality, and acceptance to meet the progress, promptly handle adjustments and additions to the technical design (if any). Contractors must make the most of the good weather, adjust the construction schedule, increase human resources, equipment, and finance to organize construction in “3 shifts and 4 teams”; contractors must make up for the volume if they are behind schedule and must comply with the commitment to compete for the progress of completing the package/project, ensuring the completion schedule and quality requirements, absolutely not sacrificing quality for progress…

Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Minister!