Part of National Highway No 30 that runs through southern province of Dong Thap (Photo: baodautu.vn) Dong Thap (VNS/VNA) - Ministerof Transport Nguyen Van The has decided to stop the project on expanding partof National Highway No 30, running through the southern provinces of Dong Thapand Tien Giang.
The project was approved in 2015 and was tobe implemented under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract but work was yetto start because of changes in investors and conflicts in relevant regulations.
Vice Chairman of Dong Thap ProvincePeople’s Committee, Nguyen Thanh Hung, told The at a meeting on November 21that according to the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC)’s Resolution437 dated last month, a road project was eligible to be constructed under theBOT contract if the project involved opening a new road and if road users hadan alternative one, meaning that road users should have a choice on whether touse the BOT road or not.
However, since the National Highway No 30is the only existing road, once it is expanded under the BOT contract, peoplewill have to use it. In other words, people will not have a choice but to pay afee to travel on the road, Hung said.
Le Minh Hoan, secretary of the provincialParty Committee, said that with the modest State budget, it was reasonable tohave National Highway No 30 expanded under the BOT contract.
The project had been approved in 2015before the NASC’s resolution took effect, so it could be carried out withoutgoing against the National Assembly Standing Committee’s resolution.
The said that investors were stillpreparing procedures and work had not started, so it was the right time to stopthe project.
He asked relevant State agencies tonegotiate with the project investors to terminate the contract.
“In the long-term, a new road parallel toNational Highway No 30 should be opened to reduce traffic pressure on thenational highway,” The said.
Bids must be floated for the new roadproject to select experienced, competent investors, he said.
Once the new road is competed, people willhave options to choose, which will help prevent public anger. Those who don’twant to pay a fee can go via National Highway No 30. Those who want to travelfaster, can choose the new road and pay a fee.
BOT road projects have caused concerns among thepublic in Vietnam, especially when road users had to pay high fees, while thequality of the BOT roads failed to meet their expectations. In certain cases,road users had to pay fees even if they did not use BOT roads because toll stationswere placed unreasonably.-VNA
VNA
