Vietnam Impressions: Commitment to the future and infrastructure "boost"

During the preparation process for these projects, the strong involvement and direction of the Party and Government leaders and the close coordination of ministries, branches and localities in removing difficulties in capital, land, material sources, and closely urging the construction progress so that the projects can achieve their goals and plans. These projects are not only symbols of development, but also a commitment to the future and an infrastructure "boost" for the country's economic development in the coming time.

Infrastructure breakthrough

According to Deputy Minister of Construction Le Anh Tuan, of the 250 projects and works inaugurated and started, there are 59 projects and works related to traffic infrastructure; 44 projects and works related to civil and urban works; 22 projects and works related to social housing; 36 projects and works related to technical infrastructure; 6 projects and works related to agriculture and rural development; 3 projects and works related to culture and sports; 12 projects and works related to education; 1 project related to national defense and 10 projects and works related to health.

Among the 250 projects, there are 8 national key projects, 46 group A projects; 155 group B projects and 41 group C projects.

The total investment of 250 projects and works is 1,280,000 billion VND; of which state capital for 129 projects is 478,000 billion VND, accounting for 37% of the total and 121 projects from other sources are 802,000 billion VND, accounting for 63% of the total.

Investment in infrastructure projects, energy, industrial parks, and new urban areas is one of the three breakthroughs identified by the Party and State, and has become a truly strong material force, serving as the foundation for the development of the country's socio-economic sectors.

Among them, many expressway projects, upgrading and renovating national highways and coastal roads have been invested synchronously, connecting regional and national traffic.

Assessing the overall development of transport infrastructure in recent times, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that, in terms of expressways, from the beginning of 2025 to now, 455 km have been completed, bringing the total length of expressways put into operation to about 2,476 km; it is expected that from now until the end of the year, we will strive to complete about 700 km more, towards the target of 3,000 km by the end of 2025 and 5,000 km by 2030. On August 19, 6 expressway projects with a length of 364 km were started and many other road projects were upgraded and expanded; in particular, the start of the expressway from Ca Mau to Dat Mui is the last piece on the North-South axis,...

Regarding the coastal road system, 1,397 km have been put into operation, 633 km are under construction, and the target of 2,838 km of coastal roads is gradually being completed. Regarding maritime and inland waterways with more than 3,260 km of coastline and a dense river network, we have great potential to develop the marine economy and water transport. Many key projects have been deployed such as Cai Mep - Thi Vai port, Lach Huyen, Hau River channel, Cho Gao canal, promoting investment in Can Gio port, Nam Do Son, etc., contributing to the development of logistics and cost reduction. The groundbreaking of Hon Khoai and Bai Goc ports on this occasion is a strategic step, serving economic development, ensuring national defense and security, and contributing to the implementation of Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW on the strategy for marine economic development.

Regarding railways, two urban railway projects, Cat Linh - Ha Dong, Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien and Nhon - Kim Ma, have been put into operation, gradually modernizing the urban area. Today, the groundbreaking ceremony of the resettlement area projects serving the North - South and Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong high-speed railway projects is extremely important, creating the premise for the high-speed railway projects to be implemented on schedule.

In addition, many key aviation projects such as the expansion of Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports have been completed, and especially Long Thanh international airport is being implemented with the aim of basically completing it in 2025...

Immediate and long term benefits

"Regarding the impact of 250 projects contributing over 18% of the country's GDP value in 2025 and over 20% in the following years. Projects using state budget capital will create a strategic infrastructure framework to lead private investment," Deputy Minister of Construction Le Anh Tuan emphasized.

According to economic experts, the spillover effects of the series of projects not only directly contribute to GDP growth in the short term, but also create a solid foundation for long-term development, a "lever" for Vietnam to catch up with the global trend of green economy, digital economy, and improve national competitiveness. In particular, many key transport infrastructure projects, when completed, will contribute to removing "bottlenecks" in connectivity, reducing logistics costs, and expanding regional and inter-regional development space.

Typically, among the 89 projects and works inaugurated on this occasion, 208 km of expressways were opened to traffic, increasing the total length of expressways nationwide to nearly 2,500 km. In addition, there are projects such as Rach Mieu 2 Bridge, Unit 1 of Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant expansion, Nghe An Oncology Hospital with a scale of 1,000 beds, Ministry of Public Security Headquarters, Saigon Marina International Financial Center... Not to mention the large projects that will be inaugurated on the occasion such as the National Data Center, Nhon Trach 3, 4 Power Plant, Lao Cai - Vinh Yen 500kV transmission line project, Phong Chau bridge, oil and gas projects...

In addition, there are 161 newly started projects and works that play an important role in the socio-economic development of localities, such as: Ngoc Hoi bridge connecting Hanoi with Hung Yen, expanding Long Thanh - Ho Chi Minh City expressway, Ca Mau - Dat Mui expressway; Hon Khoai dual-use general port; Viettel Research and Development Center; Ministry of Public Security Biotechnology Center; industrial infrastructure works; resettlement area projects serving the North - South high-speed railway project and the Hanoi - Lao Cai - Hai Phong railway project...

Or the Canh Tang reservoir cluster, a key irrigation project in the North, was inaugurated in Phu Tho province. This is a multi-purpose irrigation project, regulating water resources for agricultural production, providing water for daily life and industry, and contributing to responding to and protecting people from increasingly complex and extreme natural disasters.

Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang said that Canh Tang Lake has a total investment of more than 4,100 billion VND, is highly technical, large-scale with a capacity of 91 million m³ (the largest irrigation reservoir in Phu Tho province, after Hoa Binh hydroelectric reservoir), ensuring the task of supplying irrigation water for about 6,460 hectares of cultivated land in 6 communes of Phu Tho province, supplementing water in the dry season for about 2,500 hectares of land in Thanh Hoa province.

Thereby, the project contributes to providing domestic and industrial water, flood prevention, ensuring water security, responding to climate change; creating landscapes, developing eco-tourism and aquaculture.

Another project, Gia Binh International Airport, which has been started, is one of the strategic infrastructure projects for security, defense, and economy, and is expected to be a bright spot on the regional and international aviation and logistics map. In addition, 22 social housing projects have been started with tens of thousands of apartments, ensuring social security and "settling down" for tens of thousands of people and workers...

Overall, Mr. Nguyen Hong Chung, Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Industrial Park Finance Association, commented that the simultaneous inauguration and groundbreaking of 250 projects is meaningful as an infrastructure "boost" for the economy. Synchronously improved infrastructure will help reduce logistics costs, shorten transportation time, and facilitate regional and international connections. This is the key factor in improving national competitiveness, because investors are always primarily concerned with infrastructure and operating costs.

"The spillover effect is reflected in not only attracting more FDI capital flows, but also promoting the private sector, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to participate more deeply in the value chain," Mr. Chung emphasized.

Valuable lessons

According to Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh, most of the recently inaugurated projects were implemented in an extremely difficult context, heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in material prices, difficulties in site clearance and filling material sources in localities... However, thoroughly implementing the Prime Minister's directive: "all must unite for the common goal, for the benefit of the people, the nation and the people"; "harmonious interests, shared difficulties", the construction industry is determined to complete the projects.

Throughout that process, the Prime Minister, ministries, branches and localities have launched emulation movements, both encouraging and cheering, as well as "orders" to strive with high determination, great efforts, actively innovate thinking, ways of thinking, ways of doing; at the same time, proactively overcome difficulties in materials and weather conditions. Under the close direction of the Government, Government leaders, ministries, branches and localities, tens of thousands of engineers and workers at construction sites have worked continuously with the spirit of "3 shifts, 4 shifts", "eating quickly, sleeping urgently", ready to work through holidays and Tet, overcoming all harsh weather conditions to bring the project to the finish line on schedule, ensuring quality. Leaders of the Ministry of Construction are also regularly present at the site, coordinating with ministries, branches and localities to promptly remove obstacles, creating favorable conditions during the construction process.

The Rach Mieu 2 Bridge construction investment project connecting Tien Giang province and Ben Tre province (now Vinh Long and Dong Thap provinces) is one of the typical examples. As of the inauguration date on August 19, the project was completed about 5 months ahead of schedule. During the implementation process, the Rach Mieu 2 Bridge project faced many challenges, especially in site clearance. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directly visited the construction site many times to inspect and direct, requesting ministries, branches and localities to speed up the site clearance progress. At the same time, the construction time for this project was shortened to complete and put into use on the occasion of the National Day on September 2. To date, after more than 3 years of construction, the Rach Mieu 2 Bridge project has been completed, more than 5 months ahead of schedule compared to the original plan.

Or, for the Lao Cai - Vinh Yen 500kV Transmission Line Project to be completed on time as directed by the Prime Minister, Lao Cai Province and Vietnam Electricity Group had to mobilize human resources to support the project construction and the site clearance of the power grid corridor, and support people in cleaning and moving their houses to hand over the site. The 500kV transmission line project affected more than 2,000 households; of which, 213 households had to relocate. The site clearance process in Lao Cai was largely supported by the people. People voluntarily dismantled the project and handed over the site on schedule.

To achieve this result, the local government has implemented the motto of "going to every alley, knocking on every door", focusing on transparently disseminating policies and providing practical support to the people. In the final stage, the People's Committee of Lao Cai province urgently and decisively took action with more than 10 directive documents issued, 3 special working groups of the province were established; including specialized staff from key departments and branches. Inspection teams chaired by provincial leaders were continuously sent to the grassroots to grasp the situation and remove each bottleneck in site clearance work.

The highlight is the province's initiative in guiding the documents, coordinating with the Land Registration Office to shorten the time for procedures to convert land use purposes and issue land use right certificates. This not only serves the technical requirements of the project but also creates favorable conditions for people to quickly settle in their new homes. Thanks to that, difficulties, especially in terms of project site, have been resolved, contributing to bringing the project to the finish line on schedule.

As a person who is regularly present at key project sites to urge progress in localities, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also pointed out 5 valuable lessons from practice including: First, closely following policies and laws, concretizing them into programs and plans with clear people, clear tasks, clear responsibilities, progress, and results; resolutely directing according to the motto "only discuss doing, not discussing backing down".

Second, promote the strength of the political system, strengthen mass mobilization, create social consensus, and timely reward. Third, proactively handle problems, do not avoid them; boldly propose specific mechanisms and policies, promote decentralization and delegation of power. Fourth, cooperate and support each other, carry out construction with the motto "overcome the sun and win the rain", apply technology to improve productivity, shorten time, and save costs. Finally, localities focus on site clearance, mobilize social resources, and closely coordinate with all parties to achieve the set progress.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/an-tuong-viet-nam-cam-ket-cho-tuong-lai-va-cu-hich-ha-tang-post880133.html