Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhchaired the first meeting of the state steering committee for national key transport projects in Hanoi on August 10, during which he requested ministries,sectors and localities to apply comprehensive measures to speed up theimplementation of the projects to expand development space for regions.

PM Chinh noted that the country aims to build at least 5,000 kilometres ofexpressways by 2030. Over the past 20 years, only 1,100 kilometres of expressways have been constructed, whichmeans the task for the country until 2030 is heavy.

He underlined the need to deal with weaknesses during the implementationof the projects, along with the effective settlement of arising problems.

The government leader asked ministries, sectors and localities to set up theirown steering committees for the implementation of national key transportprojects, while regularly inspecting, evaluating and organising acceptance forthe completed projects.

The PM noted that the capital for national key transportprojects is 734 trillion VND (31.38 billion USD), of which, over 500 trillionVND (21.37 billion USD) are for expressways.

He requested ministries, sectorsand localities to focus on achieving targets set at the 13th National Party Congress in the work, contributing to forming new developmentspace, motivating the growth of regions, boosting tourism development, dealingwith bottlenecks in transport and promoting production as well associo-economic recovery.

The Government leader asked the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment to bear the responsibility for licencing constructionmaterial mines and make a report to the Government in August.

The Ministries of Finance, and Planning and Investment wererequested to give guidance on speeding up capital disbursement.

Meanwhile, localities were asked to speed up resettlementand ground clearance activities. As the petrol prices have reduced to the levelrecorded before the conflict in Ukraine, the PM asked construction materialsuppliers to consider adjusting materials’ prices to sharedifficulties with businesses and people.

Currently, there are nine national key transport projectsand 31 component projects, including the eastern section of the North - South expressway;Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway; Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot expressway; Bien Hoa- Vung Tau expressway; Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway; Belt RoadNo.4 of the Hanoi Capital Region, Belt Road No.3 of Ho Chi Minh City; North -South high-speed railway; urban railway lines in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; andLong Thanh International Airport.

Of the total, three projects are under the management of theMinistry of Transport, five under the management of localities, and one under other ministries,sectors and enterprises.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, theimplementation of the transport projects is significant in expanding space for development.However, their progress has remained slow.

He stressed that amid the heavy workload, it is necessaryfor relevant ministries, sectors and localities to speed up the work, especiallyin capital allocation and ground clearance./.