(Chinhphu.vn) - The progress of the Hanoi – Hai Phong Expressway Project is being delayed because of some “obstacles” in land acquisition and material supply, which has adversely affected the entire progress of such life-line transport Works.

On 11^th May 2010, an interdisciplinary working delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai traveled nearly 200 km along the service roads of the Hanoi – Hai Phong Expressway Project to inspect and check the progress of the Project.

Over one year of delay due to obstacles in land acquisition

Especially, the delegation paid a direct visit to and instructed how to remove 10 “obstacles” which have had a big effect on progress of the whole Project. The obstacles include the intersection with Ring road No. 3, the planned area for Gia Lam New Town – Science and Entertainment Park (Hanoi), Package EX2 (crossing Provincial Highway No. 206 – Hung Yen Province), Package EX-3 (the connection point between the Hanoi – Hai Phong Expressway and Cau Gie – Ninh Binh Expressway), Package EX-4 (passing through Hung Yen province): It is unable to construct Temporary bridges and internal service roads due to uncleared residential land; Package EX-9: Having soft soil treatment on trial.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai inspected and instructed how to remove obstacles to Land Acquisition on the Site of Package EX-4 – Photo: Chinhphu.vn

Being a very large-scale transport Works (total investment capital of over VND30,000 billion) with a modern design, the Hanoi – Hai Phong Expressway Project have been being intensively “executed” by Ministries, departments, local authorities and contractors.

According to the Employer – Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company (VIDIFI), basically, preparation for the project has been made on schedule. Funds have been fundamentally mobilized as required, Design Documents and Cost Estimate for 8 out of 10 main civil work packages have been approved.

Thanh An bridge, one of key packages under the Project, is being promptly executed, Photo: Chinhphu.vn

However, the inspection shows that land acquisition has not met the required timeline of the Project (12-16 months behind timeline as required by the Prime Minister) because only agricultural land has been acquired. Especially, failure to build resettlement areas on schedule has caused delay in construction of packages.

Moreover, there exist difficulties in exploiting material borrow pit for the purpose of the project and transporting materials to the site. There is also delay in concluding planning for accompanying Industrial Zones and New Urban Areas. It is estimated that the entire road needs 50 million m³ sand, soil and stone but contractors are difficult to obtain permit for local exploitation and transportation of materials.

Deadline for removal of “obstacles”

At the meeting with relevant Ministries, departments, local authorities, the employer and contractors of packages, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai emphasized the significance and importance of the Hanoi – Hai Phong Expressway: “This is one of key transport works and key solution to traffic jam that becomes more and more serious in the North-East dynamic economic development zone connecting with Hanoi. Especially, this is the first large-scale Expressway under BOT contract with total investment capital of approximately USD2 billion, paving the way for the Government’s policy on diversification of funding sources in the society for development of infrastructure in the future.

Accordingly, it is the first priority to ensure the progress and effectiveness of works and packages as well as the entire project. The “obstacles” must be removed not later than the deadlines given by Ministries and departments.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai to speed up measures to remove obstacles to the Project. Photo: Chinhphu.vn

“This is the requirement we have to fulfill because ways, policies and mechanisms to remove such obstacles have been made available”.

Accordingly, Deputy Prime Minister required the employer, contractors to speed up the  completion of the whole project sooner than the schedule (2013). For 33km passing through Hai Phong city which have been constructed by strong contractors must be completed before other packages.

With regard to particular tasks, the Employer must ensure the funding sources, regularly calculate to ensure the sufficiency for the construction and especially for compensation. The Employer is required to proceed with contracting for the remaining packages, complete necessary procedures so that the contractors can import their equipment and solve matters relating to unit price. Ministry of Transport shall determine the scale of alignment, connection with connecting roads soon. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall instruct how to compensate consistently as stipulated for the Project.

Local authorities shall, in close cooperation with the Employer, compensate in accordance with applicable regulations, focusing on encouragement but using enforcement if necessary for the purpose of  land acquisition, common interests. In addition, local authorities are required to complete planning for surrounding urban areas, resettlement areas so as to stabilize new lives of local people.

By Nguyen Linh