More construction price norms for public transport projects to be issued

Hanoi - The Ministry of Construction will issue more construction price norms for public transport projects under its authority in the first quarter of 2024 to boost the construction of the country’s key transport projects.

Deputy Minister of Construction Bui Hong Minh spoke at an online conference to deploy the Prime Minister's Official Dispatch 02/CD-TTg dated January 9, 2024, co-organised by the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Transport early this week. The event aimed to remove difficulties and obstacles related to construction investment costs, construction price and construction material price regulations.

According to Minh, in recent years, the investment in the construction of key projects, such as North-South Expressway, Ring Road 4 in Hanoi, Belt Road 3 in Ho Chi Minh City, National Railway, urban railways, seaports and airports have been implemented synchronously, helping to connect economic development of regions, inter-regions and national key economic regions.

However, Minh said, the management of the projects has still faced many difficulties and obstacles related to construction investment costs, construction price and construction material price norms, especially the price of construction materials at mines assigned to contractors according to the specific mechanism of the National Assembly and the Government.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan said that the current regulations on managing construction investment costs are basically complete and meet practical management requirements. However, in the actual implementation process, some projects still face difficulties and obstacles in developing, appraising and approving total investment estimates and construction costs.

To solve the problems, Deputy Minister of Construction Bui Hong Minh said his ministry will issue 318 additional construction price norms for public transportation construction projects according to its authority in the first quarter of 2024.

Besides, the ministry will also issue 547 price estimation norms for public transport construction projects.

"We will continue to review to issue new norms for those still lacking or inappropriate due to changes in technology, construction conditions or new construction materials," Minh affirmed.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has highlighted that restricting the use of personal vehicles in major cities and encouraging the use of public transportation would be the key solutions to achieve the sustainable goal of reducing traffic accidents and alleviating traffic congestion.

Consulting agencies have proposed orientations for promoting the capacity of 16 important railway stations nationwide to meet freight transportation demand.

The Jakarta provincial administration has allocated 6.9 trillion Rp (446.9 million USD) in the 2024 city budget to curb traffic congestion in the capital city by improving public transportation.