HCMC – Eight component projects of the North-South Expressway have been moved from the public-private partnership (PPP) model to the public investment model, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced at a meeting of the Government on April 7.
Three other component projects of the expressway — Mai Son-Highway 45, Highway 45-Nghi Son and Phan Thiet-Dau Giay sections — had earlier been changed from PPP to public investment projects. Therefore, all 11 subprojects of the North-South Expressway, which require a total investment of VND118.7 trillion, are now public investment projects.
The Ministry of Transport initially called for both foreign and domestic investors to submit tenders for these projects. However, the Government decided in September 2019 that only domestic companies could join construction tenders.
Bidding was expected to finish in September 2020, but the Government realized that this would be impossible as domestic investors do not have sufficient financial capacity or experience for these projects, especially at a time of economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Therefore, with the agreement of the prime minister, the Ministry of Transport decided to convert these projects from PPP to public investment projects and will select investors accordingly. The ministry expected to cut 5% of investment costs and will submit a report to the National Assembly Standing Committee at a meeting next month.
Work has started on three urgent components: Mai Son-Highway 45, Highway 45-Nghi Son and Phan Thiet-Dau Giay sections. Once complete, they will be run under the operations and maintenance model. Plans have not yet been drawn up for the eight remaining components of the expressway.
With these adjustments, the country’s public investment in 2020 will be raised by over VND8 trillion.
