Construction trio keen on building $1.5 bln expanded expressway in southern Vietnam

Three construction majors in Vietnam are interested in building an expanded expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Mekong Delta provinces of Long An and Tien Giang for an estimated VND38.6 trillion ($1.52 billion).

A recent pre-feasibility report on the HCMC-Trung Luong-My Thuan expanded expressway, submitted by a transport infrastructure agency to the Ministry of Transport, mentions the three companies as: Deo Ca Group; Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII), and Tasco JSC.

The expansion of the 91 kilometer highway from the current two lanes to eight lanes, will be done under a public-private partnership (PPP) format and a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract with no state funding involved.

The total investment, fully covered by the investors, will comprise VND5.8 trillion ($228.4 million), or 15%, from the owners’ equity; and the remaining VND32.88 trillion ($1.29 billion) sourced through loans and other financial resources.

The project is expected to receive an in-principle nod in Q1/2025, with full approval estimated to be granted between Q2 and Q3/2025. Contractor selection is scheduled to happen between Q3/2025 and Q1/2026.

The expressway is scheduled to be built from Q1/2026 to Q4/2028.

The investors will collect toll from the expressway over 23 years and five months to recover their capital.