Proposal to split National Highway 15D investment into 2 independent projects

Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee proposed to separate the section of National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway from the PPP project to build National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to Ho Chi Minh Road West branch to implement public investment.

Quang Tri proposes to split National Highway 15D investment project into 2 independent projects

Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee proposed to separate the section of National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway from the PPP project to build National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to Ho Chi Minh Road West branch to implement public investment.

The 42 km option has a slow payback period.

Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee said that it has sent a document to the Ministry of Transport reporting on a number of contents implementing the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on the investment in the construction of National Highway 15D. In this document, Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee proposed to separate the section from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway from the National Highway 15D construction investment project from National Highway 1 to the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road under the PPP form to implement public investment.

According to the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, implementing the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister in Document No. 1136/TTg-CN dated November 21, 2023, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province has approved the investor to prepare a Pre-feasibility Study Report for the Investment Project to build National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to Ho Chi Minh Road, West Branch, with a length of 42 km, including the section from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway, 8 km long and the section from Cam Lo - La Son Expressway to Ho Chi Minh Road, West Branch, 34 km long under the public-private partnership (PPP) method.

National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to the existing Cam Lo – La Son Expressway. Photo: Ngoc Tan

Implementing the Prime Minister's direction in Notice No. 29/TB-VPCP dated February 15, 2023, "the spirit of building bridges to cross rivers, building tunnels to cross mountains and hills, and building earth and sand to cross plains", because the section from Cam Lo - La Son Expressway to the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road has mountainous terrain, passing through special-use forests, the proposed investment and construction plans have a large total investment of over VND 7,000 billion (plan to design 2 tunnel sections, scale of 2 lanes, site clearance for 2 lanes with a total investment of VND 7,165 billion; plan to design 2 tunnel sections, scale of 2 lanes, site clearance for 4 lanes, total investment of VND 7,482 billion)

Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee said that both of these options have a payback period of over 29 years, although the state capital participating in the project is nearly 3,000 billion VND (over 40%); in case the support capital is increased to the maximum prescribed level of 50%, the payback period will still be over 23 years.

“To ensure the feasibility of the project's financial plan and reduce the time for collecting fees to recover capital, it is necessary to increase the state capital participating in the PPP project to 70%. However, current legal regulations do not allow it and limited local resources cannot balance the arrangement of state capital participating in the project, so the time to complete procedures and implement the project will be prolonged,” emphasized the People's Committee of Quang Tri province.

According to the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, My Thuy port area is currently under construction and is expected to put wharfs 1 and 2 into operation by the end of 2025. At the same time, the investment project to build and expand the North-South expressway in the East, Cam Lo - La Son section, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1244/QD-TTg dated October 23, 2024, will be basically completed by the end of 2025. The implementation of the section from Cam Lo - La Son expressway to the West branch of Ho Chi Minh road under the PPP method will prolong the implementation time, not ensuring the instructions of the Party and State leaders on supporting resources to develop connecting traffic infrastructure to effectively exploit the My Thuy international sea cluster.

Early investment in National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway from public investment capital will connect My Thuy Port, Quang Tri Industrial Park, Southeast Quang Tri Economic Zone with the Eastern North - South Expressway, helping to effectively promote investment capital for projects, increase attractiveness, and facilitate investment attraction.

On the other hand, the Cam Lo - La Son expressway is 98 km long, of which the 37 km section passing through Quang Tri province does not have cross-roads according to the standards connecting National Highway 1. Therefore, the investment in the construction of National Highway 15D connecting from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son expressway is extremely important, serving rescue and relief work, ensuring traffic order and safety, controlling security and order in the area when implementing traffic diversion and clearing in emergency situations on Cam Lo - La Son expressway and National Highway 1 when an incident occurs. Contributing to the completion of the road traffic infrastructure network, conveniently connecting vertical routes such as National Highway 1, Cam Lo - La Son expressway, North - South railway...

Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee stated: "With the above contents, it is necessary to separate the National Highway 15D section from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway from the National Highway 15D construction project from the National Highway to the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road under the PPP form to carry out public investment, speed up the implementation progress, reduce investment costs, and ensure the feasibility of the financial plan. Shorten the time for collecting tolls to recover capital of the Project. The investment project to build National Highway 15D section from Cam Lo - La Son Expressway to the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road under the PPP form".

The project will be implemented in the period 2026-2030

Regarding progress, the investment plan for National Highway 15D from Cam Lo - La Son Expressway to Ho Chi Minh Road, West Branch, according to the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, based on the pre-feasibility study report of the Investment Project to build National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to Ho Chi Minh Road, West Branch (length 42 km) has been implemented by the consortium of investors (Hoanh Son Group Joint Stock Company, Nam Tien Company Limited and Phonesack Vietnam Company Limited).

Currently, the Provincial People's Committee is directing units to research and complete the investment dossier for the section from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway, 8 km long, and requesting investors to complete the dossier for the Investment Project to build National Highway 15D, section from Cam Lo - La Son Expressway to Ho Chi Minh Road, West branch, under the PPP method (about 34 km long) to implement according to regulations.

National Highway 15D intersection with Cam Lo – La Son Expressway. Photo: Ngoc Tan

Regarding the state capital participating in the PPP project of National Highway 15D from Cam Lo - La Son Expressway to the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province said that it has compiled and projected in the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2026-2030 with a budget of about 1,000 billion VND from the central budget (reported to the Ministry of Planning and Investment).

After the State capital is approved by competent authorities, the Provincial People's Committee will organize appraisal, complete project approval procedures and implement in the 2026-2030 period.

According to Vice Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee Le Duc Tien, Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee has requested the Ministry of Transport to pay attention, agree and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to propose the Prime Minister to approve the implementation of National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway in the form of public investment.

At the same time, it is proposed that the Government support the province with a budget of VND 990 billion from the increased central budget revenue in 2024 to serve as state capital to participate in the investment project of National Highway 15D from National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway with a scale of 2 motor vehicle lanes and 1 rudimentary vehicle lane on each side.

And support funding of about 1,500 billion VND from the central budget for the period 2026-2030 to support the state capital participation in the investment project of National Highway 15D from Cam Lo - La Son Expressway to Ho Chi Minh Road West branch in the form of PPP.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/quang-tri-de-xuat-tach-du-an-dau-tu-quoc-lo-15d-thanh-2-du-an-doc-lap-d235003.html