The HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway officially opened to traffic on February 8.

The most modern expressway in Vietnam, measuring a total of 55 kilometers in length connects HCM City with National Highway No 51, Long Thanh International Airport and National Highway No 1A.

Total investment in the expressway is estimated at VND20,630 billion (nearly US$978.3 million), which comes from loans provided by the Asian Development Bank (US$276.8 million), official development assistance (ODA) loans from the Japanese Government (US$640.3 million) and Vietnamese Government’s counter capital. Work on the highway began in December 2009.

The expressway is expected to help reduce traffic congestion at the entrance to HCMC from Dong Nai and contribute to the development of HCMC’s suburban areas such as NhonTrach, Long Thanh, and Phu My.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung praised great efforts of the Ministry of Transport, the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), HCM City, Dong Nai province, designing and executing units, engineers and workers to finish the project one year ahead of time.

He emphasized that the project is very important for socio-economic development, job generation, improvement of living condition and security and safety in the region and the whole country.

He asked the VEC to work with HCM City and Dong Nai province to complete the remaining work so that the project will soon be paid off.

On the occasion, the PM expressed his sincere thanks to international organisations and countries, particularly ABD and Japan, for providing long-term loans for Vietnam to implement key infrastructure projects, including HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway. Vietnam hopes to receive more support from donors and partners and pledges to use both domestic and foreign loans effectively in infrastructure development, Dung confirmed.