Priority to Key Traffic Projects

Defining that "transport infrastructure goes one step ahead", Binh Dinh province always gives top priority to development investment in local transport infrastructure systems to clear traffic congestions and speed up the construction of local synchronous and modern infrastructure.

Mr. Nguyen Tu Cong Hoang, Director of the Department of Transport of Binh Dinh, said, many national key traffic projects have been deployed by central and local agencies in the province, including North - South Expressway and the expanded and upgraded National Highway 1. The Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee also focus on directing and allocating investment resources to build, upgrade and develop road infrastructure networks, especially completing key traffic projects in the province like new National Highway 19 (section from Quy Nhon Port to National Highway 1), upgraded and expanded National Highway 1D (from Long Van intersection to Binh Dinh bus station), Provincial Road 639B in the west.

Completed national and provincial projects are helping local socioeconomic growth. Key operational transport projects help shorten travelling time, improve quality and volume of transported goods, quickly access administrative centers and tourist resorts in the province and the region. Thus, in recent years, the province’s socioeconomic look has changed markedly in all fields and enabled Binh Dinh to confidently assert its position in the central key economic region.

He said, given a limited budget, Binh Dinh's transport sector reviewed and selected urgent and important transport infrastructure projects for prioritized investment and completion. But, to ensure local synchronous, modern transport network development as planned, create a driving force for socioeconomic development, diversifying resources is very necessary. Therefore, in the past years, the transport sector of Binh Dinh province advised the Provincial People's Committee to harness central budget, social sources or other assistance sources, loans borrowed from the World Bank (WB), official development assistance (ODA) or public private partnership (PPP).

Some major projects in the province are funded by non-State resources or partly funded by the provincial budget, including Dien Bien Phu extended road (in the PPP form), the VND1,300-billion post-disaster reconstruction project funded by the WB, and VND4,411 billion centrally funded National Highway 19. Currently the Department of Transport is coordinating with other sectors, advising the Provincial People's Committee to seek support from the Asian Development Bank to carry out climate-resilience infrastructure for ethnic minorities (CRIEM) or loans from the World Bank to implement an integrated adaptive development project - Binh Dinh province.

Nevertheless, the province did not mobilize sufficient fund and investment resources for transport infrastructure development, ineffectively engaged social resources and PPP fund for transport investment projects, spent too much time on the order and procedures of accessing and disbursing WB and ODA loans, and slowly carried out site clearance and construction of key projects.

To facilitate transport infrastructure development, especially key transport projects, the Department of Transport of Binh Dinh is working out detailed plans for each project category. Specifically, as for ongoing projects, the department will coordinate with other branches to advise the Provincial People's Committee to urge completion; seriously deal with site clearance, clear procedural bottlenecks, and accelerate planned budget disbursement. As for blueprint projects which are preparing to conduct investment procedures, the agency will work with branches to carefully study the legal corridor and solutions to reduce and streamline procedures to advise the Provincial People's Committee to mobilize, access and disburse loans and central budget. It will actively advise and propose competent authorities to consider and increase other investment capital sources for infrastructure in general, and transport infrastructure in particular.

Source: Vietnam Business Forum