Construction of Vĩnh Hảo-Phan Thiết section in south-central Bình Thuận Province started in September. It is one of North-South Expressway’s sub-projects. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Thanh

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyễn Nhật talks to Vietnam News Agency about the ongoing construction of sections of the North-South Expressway.

Could you give a general assessment on the progress of North-South Expressway’s sub-projects?

About 98 per cent of the land clearance work has been completed. The remaining 2 per cent is a very small proportion but we do not loosen supervision on that.

The Ministry of Transport will continue to supervise the land clearance progress every day, every week.

The areas that have not been removed are mostly electricity systems and resettlement areas.

The relocation of power systems must comply with legal regulations and depend on the electricity sector’s plans. Power cannot be cut at any time because it will affect lives and production of local people and businesses. We must complete the new power system of the project before relocating the old one.

In terms of relocating resettlement areas, according to the land law and the national target programme on building new-style rural areas, new resettlement areas must have better conditions than the old ones.

The new areas must include completed infrastructure (water, power, transport systems).

Local authorities and boards of management of sub-projects are speeding up their work to complete land clearance.

The 98 per cent of completed land clearance work will encourage contractors to accelerate their construction in the future.

It is reported that the construction material prices in some localities have risen rapidly, which might increase the total investment of the expressway. How will the Ministry of Transport deal with this problem?

According to the current law, local authorities are responsible for managing raw materials including construction materials. The Ministry of Transport is not in charge of it.

The feasibility study of the North-South Expressway’s eastern part states that the prices of construction materials must be proposed to the ministry by local authorities.

Any local authorities that increase the prices of construction materials and total investment must hold responsibility.

Construction materials for North-South Expressway’s eastern section are only allowed to decrease or increase by no more than 5 per cent, which is completely consistent with the market mechanism and regulations.

For example, when the gasoline and oil prices in the market fluctuate, local authorities must manage this in order to stabilise prices in the locality they manage. In case the local authorities cannot stabilise the price, they must bear responsibility.

Two sub-projects of the North-South Expressway cannot select investors and must cancel the bidding and find other investment sources. Has this affected the progress of the mega project?

The Government will report to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly (NA) to consider and make decisions on sub-projects which cannot select investors, according to the NA’s Resolution No 52/2017/QH14 on the construction of highways on the eastern section in the 2017-20 period.

The Ministry of Transport has proposed the Government ask for the opinions of the NA to determine the fate of two projects - the National Highway 45-Nghi Sơn section and Nghi Sơn-Diễn Châu section invested under public-private partnership model.

Changing to public investment or other types of investment will be decided by the NA Standing Committee.

If NA makes the decision by the end of this year or at the beginning of next year, the two sub-projects will not affect the progress of the whole North-South-East Expressway project. —  VNS