New expressway shortens Hanoi-Nghe An travel time to three hours by car

The Dien Chau-Bai Vot Expressway will be opened to traffic on Sunday, shortening the travel time between Hanoi and Vinh town, capital of Nghe An province, from five hours and a half by car to three hours.

The expressway runs from Dien Chau district to National Highway 46B in Hung Nguyen district, the central province of Nghe An.

Nghe An, hometown of President Ho Chi Minh, is the largest province in Vietnam. The province, which has a VSIP industrial park, is emerging as a new destination for foreign direct investment in central Vietnam.

The project forms part of the eastern wing of the North-South Expressway, said Nguyen Quoc Viet, CEO of the Nghe An-based Phuc Thanh Hung Investment JSC - the investor.

Its remaining section, from National Highway 46B to Bai Vot in Ha Tinh province, will be inaugurated in September this year, he added.

The Dien Chau-Bai Vot Expressway has a total length of 49 kilometers, including 44.4 kilometers in Nghe An and 4.9 kilometers in neighbouring Ha Tinh. Invested in the form of public private partnership (PPP), it will have four lanes, with a 17-meter roadbed, and a speed limit of 80km/h in the first phase.

The build-operate-transfer (BOT) project’s total investment capital is about VND11.16 trillion ($440 million), of which about VND5.09 trillion was raised by the investor, and more than VND6.07 trillion came from the state coffers.

The eastern wing of the North-South Expressway runs from Lang Son to the southernmost province of Ca Mau, traversing 32 localities and three key economic zones.

According to a newly-passed National Assembly resolution, Vietnam will strive to open the eastern section of the North-South Expressway and expand the expressway network to 3,000 kilometers by 2025.