Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang. Photo: VOV

He said 566km of expressways have opened to traffic, bringing the total length of expressways of the country to more than 1,700km. Construction of other expressways will begin at the end of June as planned. In addition, the plan to expand and upgrade roads is completed, giving priority to upgrading roads from two lanes to four lanes.

Vietnam currently has 25,000 national land routes. Minister Thang said localities are encouraged to jointly allocate capital to invest in and upgrade national roads given the central budget meeting just 66% of investment demand.

To promote economic development, seaports must be connected with expressways to reduce logistics costs, which the Minister of Transport said significant improvement has been reported. Last year, logistics costs accounted for 16.8% of GDP, lower than 21% of GDP in previous years.

“To reduce costs, it is necessary to invest in infrastructure, strengthen the connection of seaports with expressways and waterways. Next, study policy on prices, transportation costs, road fees, seaport entrance fees, among others; promulgate mechanisms and policies on logistics operating costs. In addition, it is the application of IT to control costs, reduce the time of having ships in and out, and increase productivity,” Thang said. 

At the Q&A session, Minister Nguyen Van Thang answered questions on quality inspection of motor vehicles.