Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has given approval for the Ministry of Transport to use the Project Preparation Technical Assistance Facility (PPTAF) to fund the final phase of the Danang-Quang Ngai Expressway in order to kick off the project within the year.

According to the Government Office, the Government also endorsed the bidding result of the technical design consultation services packages for the Danang-Quang Ngai Expressway route as a whole.

The Government requested the transport ministry to direct its agencies to review and manage contracts they had signed with contractors to ensure the bidding package will be deployed on schedule and the effectiveness of using PPTAF.

The transport ministry had assigned the project management unit No.85 to be in charge of executing the US$12.1 million consultancy packages. In November last year, this PMU under the ministry signed a contract with a Japanese consortium of Nippon Koei, Nippon Engineering Consultants, Chodai and Thai Engineering Consultants to carry out design and consultation process of the scheme.

The ministry said the fund to develop the route financed by the World Bank is already available. During the fact-finding trip to check the site-clearance progress of the scheme in February, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang said work on the project would be started in 2012.

The expressway, part of the cross-country expressway route, has a length of 139 kilometers including six lanes with a designed velocity of 120 kilometers per hour. It starts from Hoa Vang District in Danang City and ends in the west of Quang Ngai Province.

With nearly VND28 trillion, or US$1.472 billion in total investment capital, the project is financed by the World Bank with US$631 million for the construction of a 65-kilometer section of the route between Danang and Tam Ky in Quang Nam. The Japan International Cooperation Agency has agreed to provide US$673 million for the Tam Ky-Quang Ngai section stretching 74 kilometers while the fund for the remaining route is sourced from the State budget.

When in place, the expressway will help shorten the travel time between Danang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai, reduce traffic overload on National Highway 1 and connect transportation between Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam with seaports in the central region via the East-West Economic Corridor.

SGT