Upon completion, the Huu Nghi-Chi Lang expressway will connect with the Dong Dang-Tra Linh and Bac Giang-Lang Son expressways, creating a strategic traffic corridor connecting the northeastern region, serving the circulation of goods across the Vietnam-China border, promoting the development of border trade economy.

70-30 capital mechanism

At the meeting of the State Steering Committee on key transport projects and works held on March 9, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh continued to assign Lang Son province the task of completing the procedures for adjusting the investment policy, increasing the proportion of state budget capital participating in the project to 70% within this March. The Ministry of Finance was assigned to guide Lang Son province in carrying out the procedures to speed up the progress. In case the project needs additional budget capital, the Government will balance support to ensure the goal of opening the route in 2025.

According to transport experts, the policy of increasing the proportion of state capital participating in the project will help to remove obstacles in capital mobilization, and on the other hand, create motivation to attract investors, promoting the mobilization of more resources for projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) method. Specifically, Huu Nghi-Chi Lang Expressway Joint Stock Company (investor) signed a credit contract worth VND2,500 billion with Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) on February 10, contributing to accelerating the construction progress and ensuring the financial feasibility of the project.

Previously, during a working trip to Cao Bang and Lang Son late last year, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh agreed in principle to apply the 70-30 capital mechanism (70% state capital, 30% investor-mobilized capital) for the Huu Nghi-Chi Lang expressway project, as proposed by the Lang Son Provincial People's Committee. The Prime Minister directed that during the project implementation, if there are any difficulties with legal regulations, the Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation should report in writing to the National Assembly Chairman and propose to the Prime Minister to promptly resolve the difficulties.

According to Mr. Luong Trong Quynh, Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee, the provincial government has committed and determined to complete site clearance in March 2025 and proposed that the Government and the Ministry of Finance consider issuing guiding documents to specify the policy of increasing the proportion of state capital participating in the project to 70%.

Hand over clean site, fast construction

The Huu Nghi-Chi Lang Expressway project is 60km long, with a total investment of more than VND 11,000 billion. After the project started in April 2024, up to now, authorities at all levels and units in Lang Son province have handed over 448 out of a total of 557.82 hectares (equivalent to 76.35% of the land area); of which, more than 410.5 hectares are eligible for construction. However, some areas still have problems with land due to overlapping of the area paid since 2018 with the new addition.

In addition, there are many locations along the route where people grow perennial trees on production forest land, causing difficulties in compensation due to the difference in unit prices between perennial land and production forest land (about 15-20 times different). In this situation, the People's Committee of Lang Son province has proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment soon issue instructions for handling.

The project contractors recommended that Lang Son province propagate and mobilize people to agree and receive compensation according to the provisional decision, in order to soon complete the approval of the compensation plan and resettlement support.

According to statistics, the Huu Nghi-Chi Lang Expressway project has nearly 430 households that need to be resettled, but currently, many resettlement areas have not yet completed procedures. Lang Son City already has two resettlement areas, while Chi Lang, Cao Loc, and Van Lang districts are still in the process of approving and selecting contractors.

In order to speed up the site clearance, the project contractors proposed that the Lang Son provincial government have solutions to propagate and mobilize people to agree and receive compensation according to the provisional decision, in order to soon complete the approval of the compensation plan and resettlement support. At the same time, the contractors also proposed that the province implement synchronously and soon complete in the first quarter of 2025 the relocation of technical infrastructure such as electricity, telecommunications, etc.

During the inspection and meeting to discuss solutions to remove obstacles for key expressway projects in the northern mountainous region on March 8, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son acknowledged and highly appreciated the determination of localities, investors and contractors in implementing key transport projects in the area. The Deputy Prime Minister requested the People's Committee of Lang Son province to direct relevant agencies and units to completely complete the relocation of technical infrastructure works in March 2025. At the same time, the province needs to have a temporary housing plan for people during the construction of the resettlement area to hand over the entire site to the contractor to carry out construction on schedule.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Dong, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deo Ca Group (representing the project investor) emphasized that investors and contractors are closely coordinating to support localities in speeding up site clearance, especially at the remaining points on the Dong Dang-Tra Linh and Huu Nghi-Chi Lang expressways. The construction work is being carried out flexibly, as soon as the site is available, contractors will increase personnel and machinery, working hard in "3 shifts, 4 shifts", taking advantage of favorable weather before the rainy season, especially at the "critical" items of the project, thereby contributing to realizing the Government's goal of opening the expressway from Cao Bang to Ca Mau in 2025.

To complete the huge amount of work remaining while the time is less than 10 months, the Deputy Prime Minister strongly requested localities to use many solutions to speed up the completion of compensation, clearance and handover of "clean" land to the construction contractor. In addition, contractors need to focus maximum resources, machinery, equipment, overtime, and extra shifts to make up for the progress and ensure the goal of opening the route before December 31, 2025. "Local authorities need to coordinate with investors to review project capital sources, study investment plans for rest stops, automatic toll collection systems (ETC) and intelligent transportation systems (ITS), ensuring the quality of the project when put into operation", the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/lang-son-rot-rao-ban-giao-mat-bang-sach-cho-du-an-huu-nghi-chi-lang-post864668.html