Work on North-South Expressway to begin next year

Construction of the eastern section of the North-South Expressway will start next year, and is scheduled to finish by 2021, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) announced on September 17.

The North-South Expressway is scheduled for completion in 2021. (Photo: Zing)
The North-South Expressway is scheduled for completion in 2021. (Photo: Zing)

The expressway will be 654km in length and has total investment of VND118.7 trillion (US$5.1 billion).

The expressway will run through 13 provinces and cities from the northern province of Nam Dinh to the southern province of Vinh Long.

The expressway will be separated into 11 sub-projects, of which three are public ones, and eight are implemented in a public-private-partnership (PPP) model.

The MOT has sought Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s approval for state investment in three sub-projects. The three projects will cover three parts of the expressway, Mai Son-Highway No 45, Highway No 45-Nghi Son and Dau Giay-Phan Thiet.

The MOT also sought the PM’s approval for investment from the state budget for the remaining PPP sub-projects.

It is expected that the MOT will choose contractors for sub-projects this month. Technological design will be conducted from next month to August next year.

The selection of investors will be implemented from October this year to March 2020. Ground clearance is scheduled to finish by October 2020.

Sub-projects under the PPP form will be kicked off by the end of March 2020 and finished in 2021.

The MOT is conducting technological design for the three sub-projects with state investment, and construction work on them is expected to start in April next year.

At a meeting of the National Assembly (NA) in November last year, the NA deputies agreed to invest in different parts of the North-South Expressway.