Hanoi (VNA)  - The Ministryof Transport’s main task this year is to speed up transport projects,Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong said at a meeting to review 2017 andset goals for 2018 in January 18.

Dong said that last year, 22 newtransport projects were completed and became operational. The ministry alsostarted another 12 projects.

Its agencies also studied key projects,including pre-feasibility investment reports for parts of the easternNorth-South Expressway over the next two years. It also did feasibility reportson land clearance, compensation and resettlement for the Long ThanhInternational Airport Project.

The ministry has also reviewed planningand options for the expansion of Tan Son Nhat International Airport andcompleted a scheme to select consultants for the North-South express railway,which has received assistance from Japan.

“This year, the ministry will continueurging investors to speed up transport projects, particularly key projects andthose that receive proper funding,” Dong said.

He said that the ministry also wantedto speed up urban railway projects, especially the Cat Linh- Ha Dong UrbanRailway in Hanoi which is scheduled to open this year.

Work on the eastern North-SouthExpressway, Long Thanh airport project or express railway would be closely supervised,Dong said, adding that any problems arising during the project implementationwould be reported to the Government and National Assembly for timely address.

Road projects underBuild-Operation-Transfer (BOT) contracts were the subject of much publicconcern last year because of drivers’ protests about high toll fees.

Deputy Minister Dong said that lastyear, the ministry examined and approved financial reports of 55 road projectsunder BOT and Build-Transfer (BT) contracts. The examination provided the costof the projects, based on which toll fees and toll collecting terms were set.

Last year, toll fees at 35 tollstations on BOT roads were reduced after the Government passed resolution No35/NQ-CP on assisting and developing business.

During the year, about 20,080 trafficaccidents were reported, killing 8,280 people and injuring more than 17,000people. Compared to 2016, the number of traffic accidents fell about 7 percent, the number of deaths fell 4.67 percent and the number of those injured fell11.62 percent.

This year, the transport ministry willcontinue to boost information on traffic laws to raise public awareness. Itwill also take stronger actions to curb speeding, drunk driving, and overloadedvehicles.

Addressing the meeting, Deputy PrimeMinister Trinh Dinh Dung praised the contributions of the transport sector tonational socio-economic development last year.

However, there remained problems tosolve, such as traffic jams, traffic accidents, toll fees at BOT projects, hightransport costs and the imbalance among means of transport, especially thesluggish uses of railways, which put high pressure on roads, Dung said. -VNA