Gov’t converts southern PPP expressway project to public investment

The government has converted Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway phase 1 from a public-private partnership (PPP) project to a public investment for faster completion, set for 2025.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh signed a decision approving the change Wednesday. The Ministry of Transport and relevant authorities are tasked with handling issues associated with the change.

The project as per PPP format was approved in principle by the government in September last year, with an aim to complete in 2026.

However, the transport ministry later suggested the project should be a public investment in a bid to hasten completion to 2025, a year earlier.

The ministry said that the implementation of other PPP projects showed problems in investment mobilization and non-participation of foreign investors.

Completion of the expressway project in 2025 would be synchronous with the progress of the North-South expressway project, it added. About 12 kilometers of Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway and the eastern section of North-South Expressway overlap in Dong Nai province.

The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway project has a length of 53.7 kilometers, with total investment of VND17,837 billion ($758 million).

It would connect with the Cai Mep-Thi Vai seaport, to-be-built Long Thanh airport, major expressways in the southern region like Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay and Long Thanh-Ben Luc, and southern economic hubs.

It will also ease overload on National Highway 51, currently the only route connecting Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces.

Travel time between Bien Hoa town in Dong Nai and Vung Tau town in Ba Ria-Vung Tau is expected to be halved to one hour.

Both Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau are manufacturing hubs in southern Vietnam.