National Highway 51 suddenly... 'ownerless'

The BOT National Highway 51 project has stopped collecting tolls since 2023 and has not yet established public assets, so it cannot invest in upgrading - Photo: A LOC

While the resolution of the dispute between investors and competent state agencies has not yet yielded results and continues to drag on, millions of people in the area are still struggling with difficult travel, traffic jams, congestion, and missed business opportunities.

That is a waste that can be calculated in "huge" money.

BOT contract entanglement

Before the BOT project on National Highway 51 was implemented, the Ministry of Transport implemented the project to expand National Highway 51 using loans from the Vietnam Development Bank (VDB), and repaid the capital by collecting tolls at station T1, National Highway 51.

Due to ineffective investment, the ministry proposed that Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Development Joint Stock Company (BVEC) receive the right to collect tolls at T1 toll station with a contract value of 400 billion VND, fixed capital mobilization interest rate (7.75%/year), excluding profits for investors.

Then, the transfer value of toll collection rights at station T1 will be included in the total BOT investment of National Highway 51 when implementing this project.

The BOT contract signed between the Department of Roads and BVEC in 2009 stipulates that the time to finish collecting capital for the contract to transfer the right to collect tolls at station T1 is July 10, 2013; the total time to collect tolls for the BOT project to expand National Highway 51 is about 20.66 years.

Of which, the time to collect fees to recover capital is about 16.66 years (from August 3, 2012 to March 27, 2029); the time to collect fees to generate profit is 4 years (from March 28, 2029 to March 28, 2033).

By February 2017, the toll collection period for the BOT National Highway 51 project was adjusted to 20 years, 6 months and 11 days.

This period is from July 1, 2009 to January 12, 2030, including 4 years and 24 days of collection according to the contract for selling toll collection rights at station T1 (from July 1, 2009 to July 24, 2013) and 4 years of toll collection to generate profit.

But by the end of 2018, due to some changes related to input factors and recommendations from the State Audit, the Department of Roads recalculated the time to collect tolls to generate profit from 4 years to 9 months.

And the Department of Roads has temporarily stopped collecting tolls for the BOT National Highway 51 project from 7:00 a.m. on January 13, 2023. In April 2024, the Ministry of Transport sent a document requesting the Ministry of Finance to establish public ownership of the assets of the BOT National Highway 51 project.

However, the Ministry of Finance requested the Ministry of Transport and investors to handle existing problems and complete the dossier to have enough basis to implement the next step.

When the two sides' views are different and cannot reach an agreement, it is necessary to have an independent agency to arbitrate. To resolve this matter, the arbitration center and the court can be used.

Dr. Pham Viet Thuan (Director of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, Ho Chi Minh City)

Negotiations 19 times without results

It is known that, from the report of the Department of Roads, the Ministry of Transport has completed the dossier and sent it to the Ministry of Finance to establish public ownership of the BOT project on National Highway 51 according to the law on public property.

All BOT traffic project contracts stipulate that when there are problems, they must be negotiated between the state management agency and the investor to reach an agreement.

Up to now, the Department of Roads has negotiated 19 times with the investor of the BOT project on National Highway 51 to terminate the contract, but there are still problems that need to be resolved.

According to the law, the failure to establish public ownership and the existence of the BOT contract do not affect the mobilization of funds for maintenance and repair of National Highway 51, according to a representative of the Planning and Investment Department (Vietnam Road Administration).

And in fact, this place has assigned the Road Management Area IV to carry out the management and maintenance of the project. However, because this is a vital road with a large traffic volume, maintenance and repair alone cannot meet the demand.

As the Department of Roads said, the next phase will review, research and propose to the competent authority an investment plan to upgrade National Highway 51 from public investment capital.

The entire Southeast region wants a comprehensive overhaul of National Highway 51 soon - Photo: A LOC

Need to deal with it thoroughly

While the parties are negotiating, in reality, Highway 51 is constantly damaged and cannot be completely overhauled.

Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces, where the road passes through, are also very "impatient", continuously urging the Ministry of Transport to soon complete the procedures to establish public ownership.

Recently, the National Assembly delegation and the Traffic Safety Committee of Dong Nai province continued to work with representatives of the Vietnam Road Administration, requesting that while waiting for the establishment of public ownership, the road needs to be maintained and repaired to ensure traffic safety through the area.

Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics, said it was difficult to understand why a BOT contract that should have been strictly enforced has been the subject of controversy for the past several years.

This is the main artery of the Southeast region. Delay in completing the procedures for public ownership to promptly upgrade and overhaul the road will cause great waste.

Traffic expert Nguyen An said: "The troubles with the BOT contract for Highway 51 are like a blood clot blocking the flow of traffic on a vital road. The contract has been dragging on for nearly 2 years, should people have to wait another 5 years or even longer?

For this painful issue, the Ministry of Transport needs to take the lead in resolving it thoroughly in terms of overall harmony between the parties.

Avoid avoiding and shirking responsibility

The BOT contract for National Highway 51 was assigned by the Ministry of Transport to the Vietnam Road Administration as the agency to sign the contract with the investor.

However, it has been more than 1 year and 8 months since the toll collection was stopped, but the Vietnam Road Administration has not yet completely resolved the problem to establish the basis for establishing public ownership of this project.

To avoid the situation of avoiding and shirking responsibility affecting the efficiency of work handling and thoroughly resolving existing problems, the Vietnam Expressway Administration requests relevant agencies and units to properly perform their roles, responsibilities, and authority in project implementation.

Vietnam Expressway Administration requests that Vietnam Road Administration fully perform the functions and tasks assigned by the Minister as the agency signing the contract and only report to the Ministry of Transport issues beyond its authority for consideration and resolution.

At the same time, urgently inspect, review and work with investors to clarify responsibilities for maintenance work, have solutions for road maintenance, and ensure safety according to regulations.

The Vietnam Expressway Administration, as the head of the review team, will preside over and coordinate with agencies to review the implementation results of the Vietnam Road Administration (if any), advise the Ministry of Transport to review and decide on matters related to the project contract...

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/quoc-lo-51-bong-nhien-vo-chu-20241022080657802.htm