Expressway proposed to connect Quang Ngai, Kon Tum provinces

The central province of Quang Ngai has proposed adding a 136-kilometer expressway linking it with Kon Tum province in the Central Highlands to the national road network plan to increase regional connectivity.

The proposal was sent to the Ministry of Transport on Thursday after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh agreed in principle to the project at a working session with Kon Tum authorities, said the Quang Ngai People’s Committee.

The expressway is expected to have four lanes, 22-25 meters wide, with a designed speed limit of 80-100 kilometers per hour. It would start from an intersection with the North-South Expressway's eastern section, pass through Quang Ngai’s Duc Pho township and then Mang Den Pass to Kon Tum town, and end at the North-South Expressway's western section.

Once built, the expressway will be the shortest and most convenient road connecting Quang Ngai with Kon Tum, the committee said, noting the investment is in line with the policy of the Politburo, the Communist Party of Vietnam's premier decision-making body, on the development of the Central Highlands region and regional connectivity.

The route will also help realize the Bo Y-Kon Tum-Mang Den-Quang Ngai economic corridor, it added.

In the 2000-2021 period, Vietnam put into operation 1,163 kilometers of expressways. Since 2021, the country has built an additional 566 km of expressways, bringing its total to 1,729 km, while another 1,756 km are under construction.

The country targets 3,000 km of expressways by 2025 and 5,000 km by 2030.

Under the national road network plan, from 2021 to 2030, the number of expressway kilometers to be built will be nearly four times more than in the past 20 years.