A groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway linking southern Dong Nai and Long An provinces was held on July 19.

Addressing the ceremony in Can Gio district, Ho Chi Minh City, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Dung asked localities and contractors to carry out the project on schedule with high quality.

The major project with a total length of 57.1 km is part of the national highway from North to South.

The project has an investment capital of 31.3 trillion VND (1.6 billion) for phase I. The investment includes loans of 636 million USD from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and 635 million USD from Japan.

The groundbreaking ceremony.

With four lanes, the road is designed for vehicles to run at a maximum speed of 100 kph.

The road includes a total of 20 km of bridges, including the almost 3km-long Binh Khanh bridge spanning Soai Rap River and the 3.18 km-long Phuoc Khanh Bridge crossing Long Tau River.

The road is expected to facilitate transport between eastern and western parts of southern Vietnam, helping to reduce traffic congestion on the current National Highway 1 in Ho Chi Minh Chi and National Highway 51 in Dong Nai.

The road will also link the network of highways and expressways to major sea ports in the south such as Thi Vai–Cai Mep, Sao Mai–Ben Dinh, and the planned Long Thanh international airport.

Once being operational, the expressway will be part of the southern economic corridor in the Great Sub-Mekong Region from Bangkok, Thailand, via Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau in Vietnam.

Source: VNA