The Ministry of Transport has submitted to the Government a project to build a four-lane expressway linking Ha Noi capital and Ho Chi Minh City for approval.

The 1,372km expressway will have total investment of nearly VND 230,000 billion (US$10.3 billion) , of which 40% will come from the state budget and the rest will be covered by private investors and foreign loans.

The proposal was made as the existing North-South National Highway No. 1 has become overloaded while expansion of this highway is impossible.

The new expressway, designed at the maximum speed of 120 km per hour, is expected to be completed by 2020.

However, the Ministry of Finance has warned that it is difficult to arrange such a huge volume of state capital (around US$4.2 billion) for implementation of this project as it is unfeasible to mobilize capital from issuance of Government bonds, official development assistance and preferential loans.

VGP