Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has urged every effort to complete a total of 361 kilometers as part of the North-South Expressway within this year, while the Transport Minister has warned that project management units failing to meet the scheduled progress will be replaced.

Deputy PM Thanh made his request on Friday when he chaired a meeting with agencies concerned in 13 provinces and cities regarding the construction of the eastern route of the expressway in the 2017 - 20 period.

This project consists of 11 components with a total length of 652.86 kilometers, of which seven have met their scheduled progress while the remaining four need to be accelerated, Ministry of Transport Nguyen Van The reported.

There is a shortage of about 12.59 million cubic meters of filling soil for six component projects and relevant agencies are striving to make the material available in March.

This is a national key project that has been allocated with sufficient capital, while its site clearance step has been basically completed and the shortage of construction materials has been partially addressed, the deputy PM told the meeting.

After reviewing all the component projects, deputy PM Thanh directed that the following four with a total length of over 361 kilometers must be completed and put into operation this year, including the 63.37-kilometer Mai Son (in Ninh Binh Province) - National Highway 45 (Thanh Hoa), 98.3-kilometer Cam Lo (Quang Tri) - La Son (Thua Thien - Hue), and 199.8-kilometer Vinh Hao (Binh Thuan) to Dau Giay (Dong Nai).

At the same time, preparations should be made for the completion of other component projects totaling 142 kilometers of thruway in 2023, including the sections of National Highway 45 - Nghi Son (43.28 kilometer), Nghi Son - Dien Chau (50 kilometer) and Nha Trang - Cam Lam (49.1 kilometers), along with the completion of the 6.6-km My Thuan 2 Bridge.

“Expenditure for the overall project has been set aside and will be disbursed according to the progress of each component project,” Thanh said.

Progress of each project must be reported every month, and the government and the Prime Minister will regularly inspect and strictly handle any violations, the official added. 

The transport ministry must ensure timely disbursement and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction to conduct regular inspections at construction sites to ensure their quality standards, the Vietnamese Government Portal cited deputy PM Thanh as saying.

Minister The committed to grant enough funding for this national project and requested all contractors to meet their construction progress.

Key leaders of all project management units who fail to do so will be replaced.

The minister also warned that any contractors failing to meet deadlines will become disqualified for other large bidding packages.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!