Delta highway project to be a private-public affair

The My Thuan-Can Tho highway in the Mekong Delta will be built by a public-private partnership, the Ministry of Transport has said.

The 32.3-km highway, from the My Thuan Bridge in Vinh Long Province to the Can Tho Bridge, will get funding from the Government, domestic and foreign loans, and private investors.

The lands available on both sides of the expressway will be used to raise funds for the construction estimated to cost VND6.08 trillion (US$304 million), the ministry said.

The highway, for which pre-feasibility studies are complete, will have four lanes and be built to grade-A highway standards that will allow vehicles to travel at 100km an hour.

Construction will begin this year and be completed by 2015 when it is expected to handle around 40,000 vehicles a day. It will be built by the Cuu Long Traffic Infrastructure Investment, Development, and Management Corporation.

It is expected to ease the congestion on Highway No1 and will form an uninterrupted link between HCM City and 13 Mekong Delta provinces.

“It will create a continuous 150-km highway from HCM City all the way to Can Tho,” Deputy Minister of Transport Ngo Thinh Duc said.

The existing two-lane road limits vehicles to a speed of 50km an hour. —VNS

Tags: My Thuan-Can Tho highway