Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh on July 13 demanded drastic moves to tackle bottlenecks related tosite clearance and construction materials facing key transport projectsnationwide.

He made the request while chairingthe sixth meeting of the State steering committee for nationally important projectsof the transport sector. The hybrid event was connected with 33provinces and cities housing key transport projects.

According to the committee,24 key and nationally important projects of the transport sector are beingcarried out across the country. Since the committee’s fifth meeting andunder the PM’s directions, some obstacles to the projects have been settledactively, especially in terms of site clearance and construction material supply.

The 12 localities housing theeastern North - South Expressway project in the 2021 - 2025 period have handedover 87% of the required ground, completed 38 resettlement areas, and are buildinganother 106 areas to accommodate resettled people.

The 14 localities traversed by threeEast - West expressway projects and two ring roads have carried out siteclearance on schedule. They include Hanoi, Dong Nai province, Hau Giangprovince, and Ho Chi Minh City – over 85%. Among them, 12 had launched work onthe projects before June 30.

Notably, Hanoi and HCM City have finishedadjusting investment in their urban railway projects. They are striving to putthe two railway lines into operation in late 2023 and early 2024.

As for the Long Thanh InternationalAirport project, Dong Nai province has handed over 4,860ha of land, equivalentto 98% of the needed ground. The Airports Corporation of Vietnam is set tostart building the first phase of the airport’s passenger terminal in August. Itis also expected to select a contractor for building the runway in July orAugust so as to launch construction in late the third quarter of 2023, thecommittee said.

At the meeting, officials alsopointed out some difficulties and obstacles to the projects and suggested accelerationsolutions.

PM Chinh, who is also head of the steeringcommittee, asked ministries, sectors, and localities to take stronger actionsto remove bottlenecks, streamline administrative procedures, cut down the timeneeded for project implementation, handle all the issues within theirjurisdiction, and focus on site clearance and construction material supply.

He told the provincial-level People’sCommittees to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors in site clearanceand resettlement and assigned Deputy PM Le Minh Khai to order theGovernment Inspectorate to inspect construction material supply so as to improvethe State management in this regard.

Regarding the railway projects in Hanoiand HCM City, he demanded the local administrations take the initiative indealing with outstanding problems and carry out more projects so that the twometropolises can have modern transport systems like many big cities in theworld.

Besides, the Government leader alsoassigned detailed tasks to each ministry and sector to speed up the key andnationally important transport projects./.