Govt allows picking contractors for north-south expressway extension

As stated in the government resolution Friday, leaders of the Ministry of Transport will appoint contractors in 2022 and 2023 for packages related to consultancy, site clearance and compensation, as well as removing technical infrastructure, as the ministry proposed Tuesday for projects to lengthen the eastern part of the expressway in the 2021-2025 period.

For the construction and installation package, the prime minister will appoint contractors in 2022 and 2023, following proposals by the Transport Ministry and appraisals by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

In January, the National Assembly approved a 729-kilometer (453 miles) expansion to the eastern part of the North-South Expressway.

As allowed by the parliament, VND146.990 trillion (almost $6.5 billion) of the state budget will be spent to implement 12 projects on the expansion. These projects will consume 5,481 hectares (13,543 acres) of land in total, including 1,532 hectares of farmland, 110 hectares of protected forest land, and 1,436 of productive forest land.

According to the government’s Friday resolution, the Transport Ministry must start work on those expressway projects before Dec. 31 and make sure all 12 are under construction before March. 3, 2023.

All localities through which those expressways run must hand over 70 percent of land before Nov. 20 this year and submit the rest within the second quarter of 2023.

Of the 12 projects, 10 will have six lanes. The other two in the Mekong Delta, Can Tho – Hau Giang Expressway and Hau Giang – Ca Mau Expressway, will have four lanes each.