Hanoi (VNA)🐬 - The Ministry of Construction has issued a call to investors, contractors and relevant agencies: quality must not falter even as the country races to complete 3,000km of expressways, speed up expansion projects, and boost public infrastructure spending this year.

Expressway expansion: a race against time

During the ministry’s monthly meeting on March 7, the Transport Construction Investment Management Authority reported that four expressway projects, namely Cao Bo – Mai Son, Cho Moi – Bac Kan, My An – Cao Lanh, and Dau Giay – Tan Phu, are in the final stage of contractor selection, with groundbreaking expected in March 2025. All are progressing as planned. Four more, including the Cam Lo – La Son and La Son – Hoa Lien expansions, and the Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh and Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong – My Thuan, are slated to start this year. The ministry is also teaming up with local authorities and the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) to oversee the construction of 28 expressways spanning around 1,188 km, all targeted for completion later this year. Currently, 16 expressway projects spanning 786km are underway, with several aiming to shorten construction timelines by 3-6 months. Yet, 12 others, covering 402km, face hurdles. The ministry is responsible for three of these projects stretching 129km, where urgent efforts are needed to address issues related to land clearance, construction materials, and workforce to meet the 2025 target.

For Sub-project 2 of the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau expressway, roughly 0.7 km of the remaining 18.2 km still require land clearance, prompting the need for decisive action in March to avoid delays. Another pressing issue is the shortage of 3.7 million cu.m of sand used as roadbed material, which is slowing progress of the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau and Can Tho – Ca Mau expressways, according to Director of the Transport Construction Investment Management Authority Le Quyet Tien. To mitigate these challenges, the My Thuan Project Management Board has been tasked with settling these material supply issues and accelerating construction on key projects, including the Cao Lanh – Lo Te, Lo Te – Rach Soi, Can Tho – Hau Giang, and Hau Giang – Ca Mau expressways. These are crucial to achieving the target of 3,000km of expressways by the end of this year.

No trade-off between speed and quality

Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh insisted that flagship projects, including the Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong railway and the North – South high-speed railway, must meet deadlines without compromising quality. Project management units submit regular progress reports, ensuring ministry leaders can step in if any issues arise.

The ministry is also tackling sluggish public investment disbursement head-on. By the end of February, only nearly 3.2 trillion VND had been disbursed, a mere 4% of the allocated 82 trillion VND budget (3.28 billion USD). Minh urged investors and project management boards to revise their disbursement plans, warning that disbursement performance will be a key measure of leadership effectiveness this year. This year, the ministry has been allocated a capital plan of nearly 82.1 trillion VND, with an additional 5.8 trillion VND expected to be transferred from 2024, pending approval by the Prime Minister. Furthermore, the ministry will receive more than 6.06 trillion VND from the increased central budget revenues in 2022 and 2023, along with additional funds from the 2024 budget surpluses and government bonds for urgent and key infrastructure projects. These allocations could bring the ministry's total budget to over 100 trillion VND, the highest in its history./.