VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Transport has decided to cancel two national highway projects.

The Ministry of Transport has decided to cancel two national highway projects, including the projects on upgrade work to the Cho Moi-Bac Kan National Highway and the new National Highway 3 (Hanoi – Thai Nguyen).– Photo vov.vn

The projects include upgrade work to the Cho Moi-Bac Kan National Highway and the new National Highway 3 (Hanoi – Thai Nguyen).

The cancellation of the Cho Moi-Bac Kan National Highway, invested under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, was due to problems in financial mobilisation, loan interest payments and maintenance.

The Cho Moi-Bac Kan stretch was intended to be part of National Highway 3.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment had asked the Ministry of Transport to explain why the project was going ahead because the project had not been approved. 

The Hanoi – Thai Nguyen section of National Highway 3 was also shelved because of issues regarding toll collections.

National Highway 3 was funded by Japanese official development assistance (ODA) and Vietnamese capital and put into operation in November 2014, but the investors wanted to upgrade the road to 100-120km per hour with total investment of VND 3.25 trillion (US$141 million).

Meanwhile the Viet Nam Expressway Corporation (VEC) has asked authorities for permission to use money collected from completed projects for ground clearance at the ongoing Ben Luc-Long Thanh National Highway.

According to the VEC, the project was in its last stages.

Ground clearance costs for the last stages were estimated about VND504 billion (US$21.8 million), while the State budget has allocated VND383 billion (US$16.5 million).

To solve the problem, the VEC has asked for VND121 billion (US$5.2 million) to complete ground clearance.

The Ben Luc- Long Thanh National Highway running through HCM City, Long An and Dong Nai received initial funding of US$ 1.6 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

Source: VNS