Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway must be completed by April 30: minister

Newly-appointed Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang has asked the investor of the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway linking Dong Nai and Binh Thuan provinces to complete the project by April 30, or be penalized.

"The report of the project management unit (PMU) is very good but the real situation is not good at all. The project has been delayed once. If you do not complete it by April 30 (Reunification Day) next year, please write a resignation application," the minister told leaders of the Thang Long PMU - the investor of the expressway during his field trip to the construction site on Tuesday.

The 99-kilometer expressway, part of the North-South Expressway, has a surface of more than 32 meters with six lanes. It is projected to be built at a total investment exceeding VND12.5 trillion ($503 million).

Once completed, the travel time from the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City to the central tourist hub of Phan Thiet-Mui Ne will be halved to 2-2.5 hours.

The project started in September 2020, and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. However, the construction progress has been very slow, with road foundations yet to be laid in many sections.

Minister Thang frankly pointed out that besides objective reasons like weather, lack of filling land and high material prices, the management unit must bear the main responsibility for this situation, calling Thang Long PMU incompetent and irresponsible.

"I don't need promises anymore. Any contractors that cannot meet the schedule and quality in this phase will not be allowed to do other works of the ministry in the near future. So are the supervision consultants," he said.

To ensure the expressway will be finished by April 30, the minister required all contractors to maximize human resources, machines and materials to speed up progress.

"The project management unit must report the progress of each day and each hour to the deputy minister in charge and will bear responsibility for any delay", Thang noted.

Later the same day, the transport minister inspected the construction site of the Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet Expressway project invested by PMU 7. The 100-kilometer expressway will have a total investment of nearly VND11 trillion ($442.7 million).

At the site, Thang said that the project has just completed 49% of its workload after two years, and that the investor and contractors must take the main responsibility for the delay.

He requested the investor to make regular contact with contractors to promptly solve difficulties during the implementation process as well as mobilize all possible human resources, machines and equipment for round-the-clock construction.

“Contractor first-phase performance is one of the criteria for the ministry to select them to complete the second,” he noted.

Earlier on November 17, during his trip to inspect the construction of the North-South Expressway’s section running through the north-central province of Thanh Hoa, Minister Thang ordered the contract with Hoang Long to be cancelled for failing to ensure the construction progress of the three-kilometer Mai Son-National Highway 45 section of the Ninh Binh-Thanh Hoa Expressway.

Thang, 49, was endorsed by the National Assembly to be Minister of Transport for the 2021-2026 term on October 21, replacing Nguyen Van The who resigned.