The Ministry of Transport (MoT) will move forward with major transport projects such as the North-South Expressway and the Long Thanh International Airport in the time ahead, a conference on December 24 heard.

The ministry held the conference to put forth major solutions and targets for 2021 and the next five years.

Ministry leaders told the conference the MoT will step up inspections over the observance of legal regulations on the management of project quality and progress, and continue to complete mechanisms and policies to mobilise the involvement of different economic sectors in transport infrastructure.

Limitations and obstacles in regard to toll booths will be settled, and automated non-stop toll collection services will be enhanced.

The ministry will continue to seriously implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures, and restructure the transport market share.

During the conference, the ministry reviewed the implementation of tasks in 2020 and the 2016-2020 period, including those regarding administrative reform.

Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho reported that the ministry has approved a plan to cut 35 administrative procedures and simplified 166 others, and cut 384 out of 570 business conditions.

The ministry has synchronously adopted solutions and maximised resources in an effort to create breakthroughs in transport infrastructure development. Many big, modern projects have been rolled out, contributing to giving the nation a facelift.

Some 1,074 km of expressways were completed during the 2011-2020 period, raising the total to 1,163km.

The quality of services in railway, navigation, and aviation has improved significantly, especially aviation, and met booming demand in recent times, the report noted.

In 2020, however, COVID-19 adversely impacted the transport sector, particularly aviation and railway, with cargo volumes falling 7.9% this year as of November and passenger numbers 35.1%.

Officials identified issues that need to be addressed, such as limited investment in science and technology and difficulties in investment mobilisation.

Over the last five years, though the number of fatal accidents has fallen 19% compared to the 2011-2015 period, there were still some extremely serious cases, the meeting heard.