The contractor constructs an eastern section of the North-South Expressway.—Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — Localities that fail to timely disburse public capital for ongoing transport projects will not be assigned new projects in the future.

Minister of Transport Nguyễn Văn Thắng made the order at an online meeting, which was held on Thursday afternoon to review the disbursement progress and implementation progress of the ministry's projects.

Thắng required the Department of Transport and the Project Management Boards in the localities to have a resolute attitude towards all contractors with weak construction capacity.

He also said that it must issue sanctions to handle units that fail to fulfill their disbursement tasks.

The ministry needs to continue disbursing a total of about VNĐ20.15 trillion (US$813 million) in the last two months of this year.

Specifically, 11 component projects of the North-South Expressway in the first phase have to disburse about VNĐ3.59 trillion ($144.9 million).

A total of 12 component projects of the North-South Expressway in the second phase must disburse about VNĐ4.96 trillion ($200 million).

Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects need to disburse about VNĐ1.73 trillion ($69.7 million).

Key and urgent projects have to disburse VNĐ874 billion ($35.2 million) while other projects need to be disbursed more than VNĐ9,000 trillion ($362.9 million).

Bùi Quang Thái, director of the Transport Construction Investment Management Authority said that up to 24 projects have not met the disbursement plan so far, including a number of key projects such as the North-South Expressway project, Cà Mau City’s bypass route project; runways and taxiways project at Nội Bài International Airport; project to upgrade National Highway 279; National Highway 21B project; and the project to build a road connecting Hà Nội-Hải Phòng Expressway with Cầu Giẽ-Ninh Bình Expressway; the project to upgrade National Highway 15 running through Thanh Hóa Province.

Referring to the North-South Expressway project in the 2021-25 period, Thắng requested the project management boards to urgently complete the appraisal, design and estimate documents so that the first 12 bidding packages of 12 component projects will be started at the end of this year as planned.

When the construction begins, problems with the materials and resources of the contractor must be ensured so that the construction can be started smoothly, he said.

The localities must clear the ground as quickly as possible, he said.

For the remaining 13 bidding packages, Thắng directed the transport construction investment management authority to coordinate with relevant units to complete the approval documents and appoint contractors as soon as possible. It must be basically completed before the Lunar New Year (before January 15, 2023). — VNS