Decision to invest in Cho Moi Expressway

Decision to invest in Cho Moi - Bac Kan expressway with a scale of 4 lanes

The Cho Moi - Bac Kan route construction investment project in Bac Kan province, with a length of 28.4km, will be invested in construction with a scale of 4 complete expressway lanes with a roadbed width of 22m and a road surface width of 20.5m.

Illustration photo.

The Minister of Transport has just signed Decision No. 180/QD-BGTVT on approving the adjustment of the investment policy of the Cho Moi - Bac Kan route construction investment project, Bac Kan province.

Specifically, the Ministry of Transport will adjust the investment scope, in which the starting point of the project is at Km0+00 (connecting Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi expressway, Cho Moi district, Bac Kan province); the end point of the project is at Km28+400 (connecting Bac Kan - Cao Bang expressway, Bac Kan city, Bac Kan province). In the immediate phase, the investment will be on a connecting section of about 0.4km from the end point of the project to National Highway 3B and connecting with Bac Kan - Ba Be lake road, Bac Kan city, Bac Kan province.

The total length of the project route is about 28.8km, of which the Cho Moi - Bac Kan expressway is about 28.4km long, the connecting section is about 0.4km long.

In Decision No. 180, the Ministry of Transport also adjusted the design scale. Accordingly, the expressway is designed according to TCVN 5729:2012 standard, grade 80 expressway, design speed 80km/h, bridge works are designed according to TCVN 11823:2017 standard; connecting route is designed according to grade III road standard, TCVN 4054:2005. The cross-section of the expressway is invested to build 4 complete expressway lanes with a roadbed width of 22m, road surface width of 20.5m; investment to build connecting section with a roadbed width of 12m, road surface width of 11m.

There are 4 interconnecting intersections on the route, including the construction of an interconnecting intersection with National Highway 3; 3 other interconnecting intersections will be identified and implemented when conditions are met, including: the intersection connecting to Thanh Binh Industrial Park will be invested in when the Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi Expressway is completely upgraded; the intersection connecting to Thanh Mai - Thanh Van Industrial Park will be studied and implemented when the route connecting to the industrial park is invested; the intersection connecting to Bac Kan City (via the urban axis road) will be studied and implemented when the urban axis road is invested and the Bac Kan - Cao Bang Expressway is implemented.

With the above scale, the Project has a total investment of 5,751 billion VND. The expected implementation time is to prepare for investment in 2021 and basically complete in 2026.

Regarding capital sources and capital allocation plans, the Ministry of Transport plans to allocate VND 4,804.3 billion in the 2021-2025 period, of which the capital allocated to the medium-term public investment plan of the state budget for the 2021-2025 period is VND 1,815.3 billion; the expected balance from increased revenue and savings in regular expenditures of the central budget in 2022 is VND 2,989 billion. The transitional period of 2026-2030 is VND 946.7 billion.

The Ministry of Transport assigned Project Management Board 2 to take charge of presiding over and coordinating with relevant agencies to complete the project's Feasibility Study Report to submit to competent authorities for approval in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Public Investment and relevant laws and to organize project implementation to ensure progress, quality and efficiency.

Previously, the Ministry of Transport issued Decision No. 1676/QD-BGTVT dated September 14, 2021 approving the investment project to build the Cho Moi - Bac Kan route with a scale of 2 lanes, 12m wide roadbed, 11m wide road surface; total estimated investment is 2,017 billion VND.

However, Notice No. 29/TB-VPCP dated February 15, 2023 and Notice No. 63/TB-VPCP dated March 2, 2023 announced the Conclusions of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on "not investing in 2-lane highways causing waste of investment capital, ineffective exploitation and taking more time and procedures to upgrade".

Implementing the Prime Minister's direction, the Ministry of Transport has directed Project Management Board 2 and relevant units to prepare and submit a pre-feasibility study report on the project from the 2-lane divergence scale to the 4-lane highway scale.

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