Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng speaks at a conference in Nha Trang City in the central province of Khánh Hòa on February 21. — Photo vnexpress.net

KHÁNH HOÀ — Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng has highlighted the decisive role of land clearance to the success of the North-South Expressway project during the 2017-20 period, ensuring that the construction begins in 2020 and the expressway is put into service one year later. 

Speaking at a conference in Nha Trang City in the central province of Khánh Hòa on February 21, the official called for the drastic engagement of ministries, agencies, and localities in the implementation of the project. 
He urged authorities of relevant localities to step up communications work to promote the project’s benefits to the public and encourage them to promptly offer up land to investors. 
The Ministry of Transport was tasked with inspecting the performance of investors of sub-projects and local project management boards, while coordinating with localities to approve and publicise land clearance and compensation plans.

With a total length 654km, the North-South expressway runs through the provinces of Nam Định, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Khánh Hoà, Ninh Thuận, Bình Thuận, Đồng Nai, Tiền Giang and Vĩnh Long.
The project is expected to help improve national competitiveness and attract foreign investment to the country, as well as create more momentum for local socio-economic development, Dũng said. 
The VNĐ118.71 trillion (US$5.1 billion) project has 11 sub-projects, with three financed by the State and the rest using funding from the public-private partnerships (PPP) model. 
The transport ministry has reported that it has approved all 11 sub-projects, as well as plans to select contractors for the sub-projects. 
Land clearance councils or groups in charge of land clearance, assistance, and resettlement have been established for ten out of the 11 sub-projects.

Preparation for the projects’ site clearance must be completed by the beginning of the second quarter of 2019.

Technical designs of the Cao Bồ (Nam Định Province) – Mai Sơn (Ninh Bình Province) section and the Cam Lộ (Quảng Trị Province) – La Sơn (Hà Tĩnh Province) section will be done in April and May, respectively. Other technical designs are set to be finished in August, September and November.

Three State-funded projects, Cao Bồ-Mai Sơn, Cam Lộ-La Sơn and Mỹ Thuận 2 Bridge in Vĩnh Long Province, have chosen consultants.

Eight projects implemented under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model have opened 21 bidding packages and are expected to have contractors in February.

Site clearance frameworks were approved by the Prime Minister for eight inter-provincial projects including Cao Bồ-Mai Sơn, Mai Sơn-the National Highway No 45, Nghi Sơn (Thanh Hoá Province) – Diễn Châu (Nghệ Anh Province), Nghệ An – Bãi Vọt (Hà Tĩnh Province), Cam Lộ – La Sơn, Cam Lâm (Khánh Hoà Province) – Vĩnh Hảo (Bình Thuận Province), Phan Thiết (Bình Thuận Province) – Dầu Giây (Đồng Nai Province) and Mỹ Thuận 2 Bridge. — VNS