A section of the North-South Expressway being completed. — VNA/VNS Photo Việt Hùng

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Transport has set a goal of completing three component projects of the North-South Expressway Project before April 30, which is Việt Nam's Reunification Day.

The three projects of Mai Sơn-National Highway No. 45, Vĩnh Hảo-Phan Thiết and Phan Thiết-Dầu Giây have a total length of 260km and are part of the North-South Expressway Project.

According to the transport ministry, the project contractors have been urgently finishing up items such as levelling asphalt pavement, installing medians, corrugated iron, anti-glare nets and signposts, and marking roads in order to complete the projects on schedule.

In addition, the ministry regularly inspects the construction sites and urges the units to speed up progress and promptly handle construction delays with the determination to complete this year the other six component projects of National Highway 45 - Nghi Sơn, Nghi Sơn-Diễn Châu, Diễn Châu-Bãi Vọt, Nha Trang-Cam Lâm, Cam Lâm-Vĩnh Hảo, Mỹ Thuận Bridge 2.

According to the ministry, 12 localities through which the North-South Expressway passes through in the period of 2021-2025 have handed over 579 out of 721,2 km of land, reaching 80.2 per cent of the plan.

Fourteen localities of HCM City, Hà Nội, and the provinces of Cần Thơ, Hưng Yên, Bắc Ninh, Khánh Hòa, Đắk Lắk, An Giang, Hậu Giang, Sóc Trăng, Long An, Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu have completed the works of measurement, calculation and compensation plans for the three highways of Khánh Hòa-Buôn Ma Thuột, Biên Hòa-Vũng Tàu and Châu Đốc-Cần Thơ-Sóc Trăng, and two ring roads in HCM City and Hà Nội.

Hà Nội and the provinces of Hưng Yên, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu and Hậu Giang have implemented land hand-overs and compensation.

The ministry said that although the localities had made strong efforts, ground clearance is still a bottleneck of the projects.

For projects starting construction before June 30, site clearance has been urgently carried out. However, if the approval of plans of compensation is not sped up, the construction of resettlement areas and technical infrastructure will not meet the schedule, the ministry said.

To accelerate the construction of 25 bidding packages for the North-South Expressway in the period of 2021-2025, the ministry requested contractors complete personnel and machinery mobilisation, construction designs, co-ordinate with local authorities to handle procedures for mining construction materials and dumping sites, and list demands for construction materials as per the project implementation schedule to send to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for allocation.

The transport ministry also recommended that the Government should allow the 12 localities that the expressway runs through to implement the conversion of forests, forest land and wet rice land for the expressway so as to complete all site clearance work in the second quarter of this year.

Relevant authorities must report to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment who will submit their findings to the National Assembly’s 6th session at the end of this year. VNS