Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has signed a circular assigning tasks for dealing with obstacles to speed up the construction of transport infrastructure projects and ensure their quality.

Projects include over 1,700 km of the North-South Expressway and other expressways linking the east and the west, together with bridges, airports, railways, seaports, and inland waterways.

The government leader also asked relevant ministries and agencies to promptly complete procedures and select contractors to begin construction of new projects.

Attention needs to be paid to dealing with obstacles relating to site clearance, relocation of technical infrastructure, construction of resettlement areas, and the supply of construction materials, according to the circular.

The Ministry of Finance was instructed to work with relevant agencies to review and deal with procedures relating to official development assistance (ODA) loans and credit from international organizations for transport projects.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment was assigned to consult with the government on allocating investment capital for transport projects and to coordinate with relevant agencies to accelerate project appraisals.

Vietnam put 20 transport projects into operation last year, including nine expressways with a total length of 475 km, bringing the total length nationwide to nearly 1,900 km.