Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc asked contractors to return to work on the Trung Lương- Mỹ Thuận Expressway Project in a meeting yesterday in Hà Nội.— VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

The PM also told the project’s credit institutions to make sure there will be sufficient funding for the project to proceed on schedule.

The project was under threat of being delayed because it was running out of money last week. 

The PM stressed the importance of the project to the development of 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta region, home to 20 million inhabitants and a major economic driver of the country.

He asked Government agencies and authorities of Tiền Giang Province to step up efforts to resolve existing legal issues related to the project. They were also asked to produce a monthly report to keep the PM informed of the project’s progress.

PM Phúc said the project must be completed in 2020 and put into use in 2021; however, quality is still a top priority. Government agencies and the project’s contractors were told to increase supervision, minimise waste and carefully review the designs.

As site clearance for the project has been almost completed with just a few dozen households still to be compensated for the land, he ordered the province to hasten the process and ensure the households’ rights are protected.

PM Phúc also ordered the Ministry of Transport to produce studies of high-speed railways and its existing water networks and seaports so the region will not have to rely solely on roads for its infrastructure needs.

Work on the 50km Trung Lương-Mỹ Thuận Expressway started in 2009 under the build-operate-transfer model with a total investment of VNĐ9.8 trillion (US$417.5 million). It was under the management of the Transport Ministry before Tiền Giang People's Committee took over. The project was halted once in November 2018 due to difficulties in securing loans and changes in public investment policies.

Public investment plans

In another meeting on the same day, the PM asked ministries, central agencies and localities to complete plans for public investment for the 2021-2025 period.

In a directive issued earlier, the PM said the objective of the plan is to attract and optimise resources for economic development and the expansion of infrastructure to meet economic development goals.

Public investment should focus on speeding up national target programmes and major projects that are key to the country's growth, as well as on supporting ethnic minority groups and residents of poor and disaster-prone mountainous regions.

He stressed that public investment should not be poured into projects in which other economic sectors can invest. Ministries, sectors and localities should mobilise more resources from other economic sectors, especially the private sector through public-private partnerships.

Under the directive, the public investment plan for 2021-2025 should be compatible with the financial plan for the period. The capital will not be spent on programmes and projects in areas that are not covered by public investment.

Ministries, sectors and localities were instructed to determine prioritised areas for investment while focusing on paying pre-paid capital from the State budget on schedule.

According to the directive, agencies should prepare capital for the investment plan in 2020 and pay all debts for capital construction from before January 1, 2015. — VNA