Investor of Trung Luong-My Thuan Expy gets funds for construction
The investor of the Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway has negotiated an agreement with four local banks to receive VND6.86 trillion (US$298.7 million) to develop the long-delayed build-operate-transfer (BOT) expressway project, the Government news website reports.
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Under the agreement, Vietinbank will provide a loan package of VND3.3 trillion, BIDV and VPBank VND1.28 trillion each, and Agribank VND1 trillion.
The loans are to be used to carry out the first phrase of the big-ticket project, which is of national importance. The project is included in a master plan for developing Vietnam’s expressway system until 2020, with a vision afterwards and a detailed plan for the Eastern North-South Expressway.
Duong Quang Chau, chairman of BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC, said at the signing ceremony that the expressway project requires more than VND9.6 trillion (US$421.3 million), with the owner’s equity accounting for 30% of the total, equal to VND2.8 trillion.
“The project has already had more than VND1.7 trillion disbursed from the investor’s capital, including over VND1.3 trillion for site clearance and roughly VND460 billion for construction, consultancy and other costs,” Chau said.
The company plans to start work on three out of 21 construction packages later this month so that the expressway will be opened to traffic by late 2020, according to its general director, Phan Anh Dung.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said the Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway is part of the HCMC-Can Tho Expressway. Local residents, especially those from HCMC and the Mekong Delta, hold high expectations for the project.
The said the Government has issued various policies to ensure the early execution of the project. However, despite having broken ground for the project many times in the past five years, the execution process has moved slowly.
In a bid to soon complete work on the Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway, the transport ministry has suggested the Government and the National Assembly give the green light to develop a bridge called My Thuan 2, facilitate work on the My Thuan-Can Tho Expressway project, and complete an expressway section between Can Tho and HCMC.
The minister added the National Assembly has approved VND5.5 trillion to build the bridge. He also pledged to create favorable conditions for BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC to execute the project and remove remaining obstacles in a timely manner so that the project is completed on schedule and guarantees high quality construction.
The four-lane expressway will be some 51 kilometers long, with 4.5 kilometers of access roads, through five outlying districts of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang. It will start at the intersection of Than Cuu Nghia T-Junction and HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway, and end at the intersection with National Highway 30.
Work on the Trung Luong-My Thuan-Can Tho Expressway is scheduled for completion by late 2020. The expressway is expected to shorten travel times between HCMC and Mekong Delta provinces, bolster the socio-economic growth of Vietnam’s southwest region, and reduce traffic congestion on National Highway 1.
