Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has signed off decision No.884 to set up a National Steering Committee on major transport projects headed by himself.

Hanoi-Haiphong expressway. Photo: Pham Hung

In addition, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh and Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The are appointed deputy heads of the Steering Committee, whose members are senior officials from other ministries and ministerial-level agencies, such as the Ministry of Construction, the Government Office, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

According to the decision, the Steering Committee would help the Government to accelerate the construction of key projects of national priority, including the Ho Chi Minh road; the expressways of the Eastern North-South, Ben Luc – Long Thanh, Khanh Hoa – Buon Ma Thuot, Bien Hoa – Vung Tau, Chau Doc – Cantho – Soc Trang; Ring road No.4 – Hanoi; Ho Chi Minh City’s Ring road No.3; and the North-South express train.

A key task of the Steering Committee is to propose measures to resolve bottlenecks during the implementation of transport projects, ensuring they would progress as scheduled by respective resolutions of the National Assembly and Government.

The Steering Committee would report to the Prime Minister on the progress of key transport projects every six months, or at the request of the Prime Minister.

As of the end of June, Vietnam’s disbursement of public projects stood at a modest rate of 27.86% of the year’s plan, or VND151.05 trillion ($6.45 billion).

For this year, the Government targets to allocate VND542.1 trillion ($23.2 billion) for public investment, for which the completion of public projects is seen as a key measure to boost socio-economic recovery.