HCMC – The Ministry of Transport has supported a proposal to allow HCMC, Tien Giang and Long An to widen the HCMC-Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project.
The ministry announced a conclusion of Transport Minister Nguyen Van The on the expressway expansion made at a meeting early last week.
According to the ministry, the government of HCMC or Long An would be responsible for widening the HCMC-Trung Luong section, while Tien Giang would handle the Trung Luong-My Thuan section.
The ministry said it will write to the governments of the three localities requesting them to join hands to study the expansion project and seek approval from their Party Committees and People’s Councils.
The ministry suggested three investment formats for the project: public investment, build-operate-transfer, and build-transfer-lease. The localities need to take into account the pros and cons of each format seriously.
The localities also have to propose mechanisms and policies that need revision to ensure the feasibility of the project.
After the selection of an investment format is complete, these localities would have to seek approval from the Prime Minister, Minister The said.
The ministry will seek the Prime Minister’s nod to allow the localities to select investors if the project is carried out under the public-private partnership format and BOT contract.
Earlier, the authorities of these localities had proposed the expansion of the expressway as it has been overwhelmed with rising traffic.
Deo Ca Group and a consortium of Cienco 6, Coteccons and Thuan Viet have sought the Government’s approval to study and implement the expressway expansion.
