Stagnant land clearance may delay the inauguration of the Ring Road 4 – Hà Nội Capital Region project. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Transport has called on localities to speed up the construction of transport projects as many are reportedly lagging behind schedule.

The request was made by Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng at an online meeting between the transport ministry with local departments of transport to review the progress, quality and disbursement of assigned transportation projects.

As many as 30 transportation projects with a total investment of VNĐ20.3 trillion (US$864 million) are assigned to the Department of Transport and Project Management Unit (PMU) of Đắk Lắk Province. Of 18 ongoing constructions, there are 10 behind schedule that were unable to be completed in 2022.

Delays are blamed on difficulties in land clearance in the areas of these projects. Many projects have recalled the costs of land clearance higher than the fund given. For example, the Highway 32 project between Hiền Lương and Yên Bái City got delayed since the cost for clearance exceeded VNĐ100 billion ($4 million).

The Transport Construction Investment Management Authority also mentioned some projects due to finish in 2023 but may be delayed. The reasons are the slow progress in construction, difficulties in land clearance of which costs exceeded the fund given, long settlement as well as scarce sources of sand materials for construction.

Some contractors have not gathered enough equipment and finance to start work.

Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng confirmed that the Ministry of Transport will fully allocate capital to meet construction progress.

“With the projects headed by local PMU and Department of Transport, if they can push the project, push it to the maximum,” Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng said. “The Ministry of Transport will fully allocate funds to meet construction progress.”

In 2023, the ministry received VNĐ94.1 trillion ($4 billion) from the State budger. Up to now, they have detailed plans on capital to allocate to transportation projects. Accordingly, the projects that are headed by the local departments of transport were assigned VNĐ2.8 trillion ($110 million), accounting for 3 per cent of the total capital.

With projects due to finish in 2023, Minister Thắng urged contractors to accumulate the workload to finish it this year. With those that haven’t finished in 2022, the minister urged local departments to complete procedures to update progress and completion time after being approved by the Prime Minister. — VNS