The upgraded and expanded Chan May Port opens up an opportunity to welcome large-tonnage vessels and cruise liners to Hue. Photo: Dang Ngoc Hieu
Hope from bridges
Right on the Thua Thien Hue liberation day (March 26) this year, the project of the coastal road through the province and the bridge over Thuan An Estuary was officially commenced. That day, a huge number of people in the locality and surrounding areas cheerfully attended in the sun. Everyone’s face was alight with indescribable joy
It was a great delight to witness the largest "great project" ever developed right on the land and sea where they have been attached for a lifetime. "The two villages joined the spans of joy," said Mr. Nguyen Hai (Hai Duong Commune, Hue City) upon witnessing the groundbreaking ceremony.
The two villages Mr. Hai mentioned are Thai Duong (Thuan An Ward, Hue City) and Thai Duong Ha (Hai Duong Commune, Hue City) formerly known as Thai Duong Thuong Ha Village. Subsequent to the 1897 flood, a new estuary formed in the middle of the village has caused the partition so far. The project of the coastal road through the province and the bridge over Thuan An estuary was implemented. It will bridge the two banks, aside from the important objective of creating a coastal tourist route along the provincial coast; promoting the formation of coastal urban areas, making a breakthrough in socio-economic development and local tourism, and improving the people's lives in the coastal area.
Assessing the project progress, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Hai Minh said that the investors and contractors actively implemented the construction shortly after the project was started. The construction items basically satisfy technical requirements. The project is expected to be finalized on March 25, 2025, and will meet the expectations of the government and the people.
From the sea upstream to the poetic Huong River, the people are also overjoyed that one more bridge is about to connect the two banks of the heritage river – the project of Nguyen Hoang Street and the bridge over Huong River with a total investment of over VND 2,000 billion; of which the Central budget for 2021-2025 is VND 800 billion, and the rest is from the provincial budget.
Recently, at the 4th Session, the 8th Provincial People's Council ( 2021-2026 tenure) approved the policy of adjusting the project of Nguyen Hoang Street and the bridge over the Huong River in Hue City, with the adjusted investment capital increased to more than VND 230 billion.
The shape of this bridge was chosen after a competition. It is an appropriate architectural plan to build a key traffic work on Ring Road III and is also the work symbolic of the province. The bridge built at the location of Nguyen Hoang Street through Bui Thi Xuan Street (Hue City) is expected to be 385m long and 40.5m wide with 6 lanes.
Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong said that special attention is given to the process of the design plan implementation, technical requirements, landscape architecture, aesthetics of the intersections at both ends of the bridge as well as the night lighting system.
“This will be the iconic bridge of Hue. In order to facilitate the implementation of the project, it is needed to reach a broad consensus among the people on architecture, design, construction, life guarantee, and activities, especially the site clearance work," emphasized Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong.
The construction site of the project of the coastal road through the province and the bridge over Thuan An Estuary in Hai Duong Commune (Hue City) inspected
Socio-economic development fostered
The implemented projects bring not only a great joy to the people but also the driver behind the development. Never has the disbursement of public investment gotten as "hot" as it is now because this is a key task to foster economic growth.
Although many projects are put into practice, the province's disbursement rate is higher than the national average, they remain slow. That means that some projects under construction are behind schedule, and some are slowly carried out.
According to the leader of the Department of Planning and Investment, the total investment capital disbursed in 2022 is about VND 6,500 billion; however, the disbursement rate still falls below expectation.
Enhancing competitiveness and providing conditions for qualified investors to access land to implement investment projects are of great importance. The province focused on reviewing the projects behind schedule and continued to handle them in accordance with Resolution No. 08/NQ-HDND of the Provincial People's Council. Accordingly, they are classified into 3 categories: 24 projects need reviewing to revoke; 29 projects need special monitoring; 26 ongoing projects need boosting in implementation progress.
“Currently, the projects behind schedule have been restarted: Phong Phu golf course, Thien An golf course; the project of Nam Dong Cement Factory is under review. In the first 5 months of the year, 3 projects were terminated: soil mineral mining as leveling materials in Troc Voi 1 Hill area, Thuy Phuong Ward, Huong Thuy Town; planting and taking care of medicinal plants in Huong Phong Commune, A Luoi District; the processing workshop for leather and footwear products applied from traditional handicrafts", said Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong.
Aside from the drastic solutions for promoting the disbursement of public investment capital, the 4 working groups that supervise and manage the investment projects regularly go to the sites to inspect, supervise and handle problems in order to accelerate the implementation of off-budget projects and disburse the public investment capital for projects using the budget in the province, especially for key projects.
Recently, on a field trip to inspect the implementation of the project for "Construction of Passenger Terminal T2 - Phu Bai International Airport" and the project of Hue Golf Course Complex, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong judged that the two key projects exert a huge impact on the socio-economic development objectives of the province.
With an eye to ensuring that the projects are implemented on schedule as committed, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong proposed that the provincial departments and functional sectors should focus on reviewing, inspecting, and monitoring the project progress to detect and handle problems and support the investors in order to accelerate the construction progress, ensure the quality of the work, and finalize the plan drawn up .
By Le Tho