Construction begins on second expressway in northwestern Viet Nam

The expressway starts at Da Bac town of Hoa Binh province's Da Bac district and ends at Chieng Yen commune of Son La province's Van Ho district.

In the first phase, the expressway has two lanes with a roadbed width of 12m, allowing cars to travel at the maximum speed of 80km per hour. In the next phase, it will be expanded to four lanes.

The project with total investment capital of nearly VND 10 trillion (US$416 million) is expected to be completed in 2028, forming the first part of a bigger expressway project that link Hoa Binh and Dien Bien provinces.

At present, Ha Noi-Lao Cai expressway is the only expressway that connects the Red River Delta and the northwestern region which consists of six provinces: Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Son La and Hoa Binh.

In addition, Dien Bien Phu airport, located in Dien Bien province, is the only airport in the region, making it the least developed region in Viet Nam.

Hoa Binh-Moc Chau expressway project is of significant importance as it will help the region to improve its competitiveness capacity, according to Prime Minister Pham.

Given the importance of the project, the Government chief called for completing the project by December 31, 2027 while preparing for expansion of the expressway in the second phase.

Pham also urged the northwestern localities to double efforts in transport infrastructure development through promoting the sense of self-reliance instead of being solely dependent on the central budget.

Since 2021, Viet Nam began to accelerate the construction of expressways with a view to increase the length of expressways to 5,000km by the end of this decade./.