PM prioritises new expressway project

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has decided to prioritise areas related to land clearance, loan acquisition and development of services along the road to Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project.

Under the Prime Minister’s Decision, the People’s Committee of the southern province of Tien Giang has been put in charge of land clearance and resettlement sub-projects.

The committee has been asked to seek resettlements for those whose land was revoked for the project and transfer land to the Bank of Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) Expressway Development Company (BEDC) in time for the project to be implemented as scheduled.

The BIDV has been given permission to mobilise capital from both local and foreign sources (including Official Development Assistance capital if any) to lend the BEDC.

The Government will act as guarantor for these loans if required. At the same time, the BIDV will not have to assess the capital borrowing of the BEDC.

As of April 1 this year, the BEDC will be able to use road tolls collected on the My Thuan Bridge as a source of capital for the project.

The company has rights to develop services including advertising along the HCM City-Trung Luong and Trung Luong-My Thuan roads.

Construction of the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway in southern Tien Giang Province started on November 29, 2009. The project is part of the North-South expressway scheme which is one of the key national projects approved by the Prime Minister.

The 54km four-lane expressway will cost VND19 trillion (US$1 billion) under the Build-Operate-Transfer model.

As planned, the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2012 and the total investment is expected to be recouped in 34 years from road toll collection.

VietNamNet/VNS

Tags: Vietnam Infrastructure, Vietnam expressway project