The Government has decided to include the North-South expressway in the east to a list of major transport projects, pursuant to the recently issued Resolution 20/NQ-CP on building certain sections of the expressway in the east in the 2017-2020 period.

The project on building certain sections of the North-South expressway in the east was approved by the National Assembly on October 21, 2017.

Under the resolution, the Government has stipulated that the owner's equity of investors participating in the project must occupy at least 20% of the total investment capital and the selection of contractors must be implemented through tender. In the case that only one contractor passes prequalification the relevant agencies must report the case to the Government for consideration.

The Government has also decided to stop the pilot implementation of the Dau Day - Phan Thiet expressway sub-project in the form of PPP (public-private partnership) and terminate the designation of Bitexco Group as the first investor of the project.

The Government requires strict management over State capital invested in the project, regulating that State capital is to be only used for the implementation of items carried out by State agencies.

Under the NA resolution on building certain sections of the North-South expressway in the east, approximately 654km of the expressway will be built with a total investment capital of over VND118.7 trillion (US$5.22 billion), including VND55 trillion (US$2.42 billion) sourced from the State budget and the remaining amount from investors.

The Ministry of Transport has announced a list of sub-projects to call on investors which includes eight PPP projects.

Nhan Dan