What to do to strengthen regional linkages in southern provinces and cities? Traffic investment for the Mekong Delta

Traffic will change the land of “Nine Dragons”

There are many policies of the Party and State in the past time that have been mentioned regional link, in order to develop the advantages of the Mekong Delta (Mekong Delta). One of the extremely important factors to strengthen regional linkages for the Mekong Delta is traffic development.

In recent months, a series of traffic projects with a capital of tens of thousands of billion VND have been decided by the Government to invest in the Mekong Delta, making millions of people “Nine Dragons” land excited, because they believe that traffic will definitely change the face of this land.

Highways and bridges connecting the shore

On the occasion of April 30, the Trung Luong – My Thuan highway, worth more than 12,000 billion VND, 51km long was officially inaugurated and put into use. With this expressway, the open road traffic system to the Mekong Delta has begun to prosper, partly ending the traffic jams and chronic traffic jams on National Highway 1, the section through Tien Giang province.

In particular, the decision of the National Assembly and the Government to invest more than VND 40,000 billion for the Chau Doc – Can Tho – Soc Trang horizontal axis expressway project has really pleased nearly 20 million people in the Mekong Delta.

Previously, on March 29, 2022, the investment project to build Rach Mieu 2 bridge spanning the Tien River, connecting Tien Giang and Ben Tre, helped reduce the load on the existing Rach Mieu bridge; at the same time, promote socio-economic development in the southwestern provinces, especially on national highway 60.

National Highway 60 is the coastal corridor connecting the southern coastal provinces with Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces in the Southeast region. It is a vertical axis that plays a very important role in socio-economic development. ensure national defense and security of the whole region.

The My Thuan 2 bridge project on the My Thuan – Can Tho highway, continuously connecting the two highways Trung Luong – My Thuan and My Thuan – Can Tho, has a project length of more than 6km, including the main bridge part nearly 2km long. , roads and bridges on the route are more than 4km long. The total investment of the project is more than 5,000 billion VND, started in 2020 and is expected to be completed in 2023. Up to now, the total construction and installation value of the project has reached nearly 51% of the contract value, exceeding the proposed plan. out.

For the My Thuan – Can Tho expressway project, progress has been slow compared to the plan. However, leaders of the Ministry of Transport have directed and requested the My Thuan Project Management Board (investor), contractors to focus on maximizing human resources and construction equipment to speed up the progress, as well as disbursement of the project, ensuring the project is basically completed by the end of 2022.

In addition, a series of other projects are being invested by the Ministry of Transport, including expressways: Can Tho – Ca Mau route, My An – Cao Lanh route, An Huu – Cao Lanh route, Dai Ngai bridge, and other projects. project to upgrade national highways 53, 62 and 91B… also started.

In parallel with that, the complete investment in the project of shipping channels for large ships entering the Hau River; invest in phase 2 of Cho Gao canal route, develop waterway corridors and logistics centers, etc. in order to connect horizontal and vertical traffic (North-South expressway to the East), bringing the Mekong Delta region to strong development. next time.

Director of the Institute of Transport Strategy and Development Le Do Muoi, said: “Being deeply aware of the implementation of Resolution No. 21 and Conclusion No. 28, which has a great impact on socio-economic life Association, defense – security in the Mekong Delta region, the Ministry of Transport has advised the Government and the Prime Minister to promulgate master plans and plans for transportation development in the key economic region of the Mekong Delta.

At the same time, in coordination with ministries, branches and localities in the region to concentrate resources on investment in transport infrastructure, up to now, the objectives and tasks set forth in Resolution 21 and Conclusion have been basically completed. 28. The appearance of the infrastructure system of the Mekong Delta has changed markedly”.

Strengthening the link for the “Nine Dragons” land

At a conference on traffic development for the Mekong Delta that took place in Ho Chi Minh City on May 31, Mr. Lam Van Bi – Vice Chairman of Ca Mau Provincial People’s Committee, said:

“One of the reasons why investors are hesitant to invest in the Mekong Delta is due to poor transport infrastructure and lack of logistics services. Even in Ca Mau province, only National Highway 1 is the main route. The highway has not yet reached the cape.

In the coming time, it is necessary to focus on accelerating the removal of “congestion” points in transport infrastructure, including the vertical and horizontal axes and the infrastructure of the coastal economic corridor. Thus, the connection and linkage between provinces can be formed, and the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta can be developed.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa – Vice Chairman of Hau Giang Provincial People’s Committee – said: Currently, according to the plan, Hau Giang province has 3 highways passing through the area. This will be a solid premise to help Hau Giang traffic break through and harmonize with the Mekong Delta in the near future.

In addition, the province also proposed the Ministry of Transport to prioritize investment capital on national highways through Hau Giang in the period 2021-2025. Implement breakthrough strategies on building synchronous infrastructure with a number of modern works. Promote development of logics to reduce costs, increase competitiveness, and develop the Mekong Delta region sustainably.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Dong – Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deo Ca Company (the construction unit of Trung Luong – My Thuan expressway) – said: “The current transport infrastructure system in the Mekong Delta still reveals the most limitations. The speed of investment and construction of the expressway system is still slow and has not reached the set schedule.

The national highway network has not met the transport requirements, many routes have low standards. Connection infrastructure, seaport infrastructure, logistics infrastructure are still lacking in synchronization. The airports in the region have not been exploited to their full capacity; the ability to connect roads in the Mekong Delta with Ho Chi Minh City and the Southeast region is still limited. These are issues that need to be dealt with soon, completely resolved, in order to strengthen the real regional linkages for the land of Nine Dragons.”

According to the Ministry of Transport, in terms of transport infrastructure, the Mekong Delta will develop a multi-modal transport system connecting inter-regional and international.

Regarding the implementation plan and resources, in the period 2021-2025, the Ministry of Transport has allocated capital to implement 27 projects in the region, with a total investment of about 156,000 billion VND. In the period 2026-2030, the total minimum investment capital requirement for traffic projects will be about VND 134,700 billion.

In the period to 2025, the whole region will have about 448km of expressways; in the period to 2030, there will be about 658km of expressways; 4 airports with a capacity of 18.5 million passengers/year; forming the focal port area, the gateway of the region at Tran De estuary area and the system of seaports and inland waterway ports.

With the above “huge” investment in the transportation system, it will change the face of the “Nine Dragon” land in the not too distant future.