The Saigon Times

The National Assembly Standing Committee votes to adopt a resolution to transfer the National Highway 45-Nghi Son and Nghi Son-Dien Chau components of the North-South Expressway project from the public-private-partnership model to the public investment model – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on January 11 approved a resolution to transfer the National Highway 45-Nghi Son and Nghi Son-Dien Chau subprojects of the North-South Expressway project from the public-private-partnership (PPP) model to the public investment model.

At the NA Standing Committee’s 52nd sitting, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said the North-South Expressway project consists of 11 subprojects, with six using public funds and five conducted under the PPP format, the local media reported.

By October 12, 2020, no investor had registered to participate in a tender for the Nghi Son-Dien Chau subproject, while the National Highway 45-Nghi Son subproject attracted only one investor to join a tender. However, the Ministry of Transport canceled the tender as the investor failed to meet the requirements.

As a result, the ministry proposed the NA Standing Committee change the investment model of the two subprojects without causing a hike in the NA-approved cost.

After the adjustment of the investment model of the two subprojects, the estimated investment in all 11 subprojects is VND89.2 trillion, including VND77.94 trillion sourced from the State budget and nearly VND11.3 trillion for three subprojects partially financed by the private sector under the PPP model.

According to The, the shift from partially private to wholly public funding for the two subprojects would help speed up their execution.

The Government also committed to building State capital recovery plans for the National Highway 45-Nghi Son and Nghi Son-Dien Chau subprojects with policies similar to those applied for the six previous subprojects funded by the Government               .

Vu Hong Thanh, head of the NA's Economic Committee, said the two subprojects failed to woo investors as their financial plans were not attractive.

Nevertheless, the NA's Economic Committee approved the Government’s proposal to ask for the NA Standing Committee’s approval over the change of the investment model and report the results to the NA at the 11th session slated for March, instead of asking for the NA’s decision.