Vietnam opens two new sections of North-South Expressway

Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport opened two new expressways on Saturday, raising the total length in use on the North-South Expressway network to 280 kilometers out of the planned 654 km.

The Mai Son-National Highway 45 and Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressways were both built using state budget funding, with VND12.1 trillion ($515.7 million) invested for the first and VND12.58 trillion ($536 million) for the second. Work started in September 2020.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway launch ceremony in Binh Thuan province, while Deputy PM Tran Hong Ha joined the opening ceremony in Thanh Hoa province for the Mai Son-National Highway 45 route.

In the south and south-central region, the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet route, covering 99 km, will help shorten travel times from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic powerhouse, to the beach town of Phan Thiet to two hours compared to four or five hours via National Highway 1A.

The new route is also expected to bring more opportunities for tourism, real estate, and other economic fields in Binh Thuan and the region.

Spanning 63 km, Mai Son-National Highway 45 connects the northern province of Ninh Binh with nearby Thanh Hoa province. On the new route, the travel time between Hanoi and Thanh Hoa will be cut to two hours by car compared to three hours previously.

As scheduled, two more expressways will open to traffic on May 19: Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan and Nha Trang-Cam Lam in Khanh Hoa province, also in the south-central region. Their combined length stretches 157 km.

Next, the Nghi Son-Dien Chau Expressway in the north-central region is set for completion in July, while the National Highway 45-Nghi Son Expressway will be available for use in August. Meanwhile, the My Thuan 2 bridge project spanning the Tien River in the Mekong Delta is set to open in December.

The plans mean that by the end of 2023, nine component projects of the North-South Expressway network (phase one) will have been put into operation.

In addition to the expressway backbone, a series of expressways are under construction towards the goal of 5,000 km by 2030 set by the government.

This year, the government is looking to speed up public investment to support economic growth amid prolonged global economic headwinds, and will focus on key infrastructure projects, among others.