Highway project opened to investors

Domestic investors will be allowed to participate in constructing the 57.8-km Ben Luc- Long Thanh expressway project, according to the Viet Nam Expressway Investment and Development Corporation (VEC).
Under the agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), domestic investors can become main contractors for bridge and approach road construction.
VEC has received loan commitments of up to US$1.27 billion for the construction of the $1.6 billion – project from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and JICA, Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) reported.
In May, VEC and ADB signed a loan agreement worth $636 million for the project.
A loan agreement worth $634.8 million from JICA will be signed in September.
The loan from ADB will be used to build the project’s west and east sections, and the loan from JICA will be used to build the project’s middle section. The cost of land clearance and relocation of affected households and other works, which is worth $336.9 million, will be taken from the State budget.
The Ben Luc – Long Thanh expressway will depart from the connecting point between HCM City – Trung Luong expressway and the HCM City Ring Road No 3 and end at the connection point with Bien Hoa – Vung Tau expressway in Dong Nai Province’s Long Thanh District.
The expressway, which allows a speed of 120km per hour, will have eight lanes and run through Ben Luc and Can Giuoc districts in Long An Province, Binh Chanh, Nha Be and Can Gio districts in HCM City, and Nhon Trach and Long Thanh districts in Dong Nai Province.
Tran Xuan Sanh, chairman of VEC’s Board Members Council, said bidding procedures to select contractors for the project would be held at the end of this year and construction of the project would begin early next year. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Highway projects

Posted by VBN on Jun 9 2011. Filed under Infrastructure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry