Hanoi (VNA) –Transport Minister Nguyen Van The reported to the National Assembly the pace ofimplementation and investment disbursement of two key infrastructure projects,the eastern section of the North-South Highway and the Long Thanh International Airport, duringthe NA’s debate on October 29. 

Giving explanation in responseto NA deputies’ concerns over the North-South Highway – East project, MinisterThe said the transport ministry has received 112 inspection and auditingdelegations over the past three years. He affirmed that the ministry hasfollowed the investment process and procedures as required by law.

The project comprises 11 component projects,which all require the Transport Ministry to conduct environment impactassessment and work with related localities on clearance work and project’ detailssuch as the scale, location of the highway, positions of underground tunnelsand bridges, the minister said.

He noted that the ministry hadapproved five component projects and five others are being considered by theGovernment. The remaining project, which is the My Thuan bridge, needs moretime as the ministry had to hire consultancy for technical designing. However,the minister affirmed that the goal is to have all 11 component projectsapproved within this year, so that construction will be carried out andcompleted in 2020 and 2021.   

As for the disbursement of 14trillion VND for the project, the minister said it would begin after the landclearance is completed in January next year. Another allocation of more than 27trillion VND will be disbursed after contractors are selected for the eight sub-projectsin the form of public-private partnership in September next year.

Regarding the Long Thanhproject, Minister The reported that the national assessment council had approvedthe land clearance plan submitted by the Dong Nai administration. The plan isnow being considered by the Government, and is expected to receive approval atthe beginning of November.  

 Meanwhile, the Transport Ministry signed acontract with a consortium of five contractors on the building of the firstphase of the airport building project in June this year. The plan should becompleted in July 2019, while the environment impact report would be completedin March 2019, the minister said, adding that the Transport Ministry willstrive to submit the documents to the National Assembly in October next year.

As such, the 23 trillion VND fundingallocated for the project remains unused, and only after the Governmentapproves the clearance plan, the disbursement of the money will begin.  

The Transport Minister affirmedthat his ministry will do its best in implementing the two key national projects.-VNA