Government urged to complete Ho Chi Minh Road project by 2025

Reporting on the project implementation to the National Assembly (NA), he said under a resolution of the NA, this project, stretching 2,744km in total from Pac Bo in northern Cao Bang province to Dat Mui in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, should have had at least two lanes and been completed by 2020.

So far, 2,362km of the road, equivalent to 86.1 percent, along with about 258km of access roads, has been completed. About 211km is current under construction while capital hasn’t been allocated for building the remaining 171km.

The said as the project holds great significance in terms of politics, economy, defence - security, and poverty reduction, it has received great attention from the Party and State.

It was carried out basically on schedule during 2000 - 2011. However, only few sub-projects were implemented between 2011 and 2015 due to impacts of the global economic crisis. Besides, since the size of the economy remained modest and resources limited, there wasn’t enough funding for the project to be completed by the end of 2020 as targeted by the parliament, according to the minister.

He submitted the Government’s proposal for continued investment in the uncompleted sections during 2021 - 2025, and about 634km of Ho Chi Minh Road to be upgraded into expressways after that depending on demand, effectiveness, and financial capacity.

Delivering a verification report, Chairman of the NA’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy pointed out that only 8 percent of the total workload was carried out during 2017 - 2021, and the unfinished sub-projects were already two years behind schedule.

The committee requests the Government arrange appropriate fundings and be determined to complete the remaining sub-projects during 2022 - 2025, he added.