Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The speaks at the session. (Photo: VNA) Inparticular, the Government has yet to arrange investment for about 171km of thehighway, he said.
The Ho ChiMinh Highway project approved by the National Assembly in 2004 was onceexpected to be completed in 2010, with a total length of 3,183km, including itsmain line of 2,499km and a western branch of 684km long.
Passingthrough 28 provinces and cities from Pac Po in the northern province of Cao Bangto Dat Mui in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, the highway project wasestimated to receive a total investment of 99,170 billion VND (4.3 billion USD).
However, in2013, the National Assembly passed Resolution 66/2013/QH13 to adjust severalcontents, including delaying the opening time of the whole route to 2020. Inthe period after 2020, some sections will be upgraded according to highwaystandards.
Reporting tothe National Assembly on May 24 on the implementation of the resolution, Thesaid that so far, 2,362km have been completed, reaching 86.1 percent of thewhole route and about 258km of branch lines were completed too.
"Other211 km of the highway are under construction while the remaining 171 km has notyet been allocated capital for implementation," The said.
"The HoChi Minh Highway is an important work, having great significance in politics, economy,national defence-security, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation. TheParty and State pay great attention and allocate resources to implement theproject," The said.
From 2000 to2011, the project's progress was on track.
However, dueto the influence of the global economic crisis, the Government issuedResolution No 11/NQ-CP on February 24, 2011, on stopped or delayedprojects, including component projects of the Ho Chi Minh Highway.
Therefore,from 2011 to the end of 2015, although investments for projects wereapproved, very few traffic projects, including the Ho Chi Minh Highway,were implemented.
"Due tolimited resources, by the end of 2020, the Government couldn't arrange enoughcapital to connect the whole route as per the goal of ResolutionNo 66/2013/QH13," The said.
TheGovernment asked for further investment to complete the highway, The said,proposing that making the existing National Highway No 32 and National HighwayNo 21 connect with the Ho Chi Minh Highway, instead of opening a new route CoTiet -Cho Ben in the northern province of Phu Tho.
Examiningthe Government's report on the implementation of ResolutionNo 66/2013/QH13, the NA's Science, Technology and Environment Committeefound that during the five years from 2017 to 2021, the project implementationonly reached about 8 percent of the total volume and the project was now nearlytwo years behind the planned schedule.
Thecommittee proposed the Government direct the review and careful calculation ofdata, ensuring consistency and accuracy in allocating resources for theproject, said the committee’s chairman Le Quang Huy.
"It isnecessary to clarify the basis for determining the capital demand of theproject," Huy said.
The committeeagreed with the Government's proposal to make use of National Highway 32 andNational Highway 21 as the section of Co Tiet - Cho Ben had not been invested,to promote the efficiency of the entire highway, Huy said./.
VNA
