National Highway 51 still has many problems, unable to establish public ownership

Specifically, the Ministry of Finance has just issued a document responding to the Ministry of Transport regarding the proposal to establish public ownership of assets of the BOT project to expand National Highway 51 through Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the BOT investment project currently has some problems and is continuing to work and negotiate with the investor to resolve them.

These are problems with equity preservation fees; with the time it takes to collect fees to generate project profits; and with negotiations to terminate the contract before the deadline.

"Thus, there are still issues regarding negotiations to terminate the project's contract early.

Up to now, the Ministry of Transport has not yet completely resolved the problems of this project as proposed at the end of April" - the Ministry of Finance emphasized and affirmed that there is not enough basis to have an opinion on establishing the ownership of the entire people for the assets transferred from the investor of the BOT project of National Highway 51 through the two provinces of Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance requested the Ministry of Transport to direct the Vietnam Road Administration and relevant units to completely resolve the remaining issues of the project to terminate the BOT contract of this project.

On that basis, the Ministry of Transport has an official opinion to send to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and comments.

Regarding the remaining issues of this project, according to the Ministry of Transport, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Development Joint Stock Company proposed to keep the capital preservation fee at 8.7%/year during the investment and operation phase as stipulated in the project contract.

Based on the recommendation of the State Audit, the Vietnam Road Administration has removed the 8.7%/year preservation fee from the project's financial plan. This has led to a shortening of the BOT toll collection period for Highway 51.

Since 2019, the two sides have gone through 19 negotiation sessions but have not reached an agreement. The National Highway 51 BOT project has suspended toll collection since January 2023.

However, the investor has sent a written request to suspend maintenance and hand over assets to the Vietnam Road Administration with a length of 72.7km, including roads and bridges. Items such as the operator house, toll collection system and other assets serving the project have not been handed over yet.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the management, maintenance and traffic safety on the main route of National Highway 51 is very urgent.

Therefore, the Ministry of Transport requests the Ministry of Finance to promptly establish public ownership of the assets of the BOT National Highway 51 project that have been handed over by the investor to the Vietnam Road Administration, in order to promptly organize, implement management, maintenance and exploitation.