Connecting Transport Networks

Nguyen Van Diep, Director of Department of Transport of Dong Nai province, said many of the major transport projects have been run in the province. Some of them are highways connecting Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thanh and Dau Giay, Ben Luc and Long Thanh and Highway 1, aside from Bien Hoa City and other routes at the gateway into Dong Nai, such as intersection between Vung Tau and Tam Hiep. In particular, a number of projects have been completed and put into operation, such as the Highway connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Highway 5, Highway 1, aside from Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai New Bridge and the overpass at the intersection of the way to Vung Tau. This infrastructure has created positive effects, contributing to solving traffic congestion, facilitating the inter-regional transport, and connecting Dong Nai to Ho Chi Minh Ciy, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, other northern provinces and the Mekong Delta.

This success is contributed to by the government, the Party Committee and People's Committee of the Dong Nai Province and the directors of the department and other authorities who have directed and made huge efforts to build up the infrastructure. On first tenure of 2011 and 2015, Dong Nai's Provincial Party has confirmed its determination to create a breakthrough in the investment in the infrastructure development, especially roads connecting to the urban areas and industrial zones of the province and the roads connecting the highways. The Department of Transport, based on resolutions of the provincial Party Committee, has developed a very specific plan identifying key tasks, implementation steps and coordination with local departments and investors of the central projects to promptly remove the difficulties such as capital and land clearance to ensure the progress of the project implementation and quality.

However, besides these achievements, the transport system of Dong Nai still exposes some limitations to the opening of the inter-regional highways. In addition, because of shortage of the capital, a large number of important projects were identified and directed by the resolution but they are still not implemented such as the road and bridge projects of District 9 to connect Ho Chi Minh City to Nhon Trach, Dong Nai and Dau Giay to Da Lat.

Regarding the financing, Mr Diep said that the province is now facing difficulties in raising its current budget due to the global economic downturn that affect the real estate market and investment in transport infrastructure. Besides the shortage of capital, the transport sector is facing difficulties in land clearance that are mainly caused by the awareness of the people towards the policies and regulations of the government, which leads many claims over a long time.

 

To overcome difficulties of raising capital for local budgets, the Department of Transport and other departments will give advice to the province on focusing on specific phases and areas to accelerate the implementation of the works. Along with the form of using the state budget to compensate the land clearance, the department will continue mobilising external funds. On the basis of the plan, the transport sector will focus on creating profiles for 8 projects under the BOT form, one of which is under the private and public partnership and published on the investment online portal of the central government and the province to provide timely information to investors and increase their understanding of the investment approaches.

Regarding to the problems in land acquisition, the transport sector will continue to raise people's awareness on project implementation, especially general policies and benefits of the project as well as the specific policies on compensation to the residents to gain public consensus and limit lawsuits on compensation rates. At the same, the department will focus on promptly and thoroughly settling the problems arising from the implementation process of the project to avoid delay and extension of the due dates, that may cause psychological and social problems; besides, the agency will coordinate closely with other agencies to relocate infrastructure such as electricity, water and telecommunications.