The North-South Expressway will connect socioeconomic development centers running from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, linking up industrial parks, economic zones and seaports
In May 2017, the Vietnamese government approved the Transport Ministry’s final plan to start building a North-South expressway before 2020, at an investment of $13.8 billion. The 2,100km project is being developed in three separate phases which will link 32 cities and provinces.
The MoT had approved feasibility studies and is selecting technical consultants for 11 sections with a combined length of 650 km from north to south. The MoT has planned to build a number of road projects with an investment of more than $4.35 billion in 2019.
The eastern cluster of the North- South expressway will consist of 11 sections which will cost over $5.06 billion in total, of which $2.36 billion will be funded by the state. Together, the sections will stretch 650 kilometers from Nam Dinh Province near Hanoi to Vinh Long Province to the southwest of Ho Chi Minh City.
In July 2019, the Project Management Unit under the Ministry of Transport organized a pre-selection bid process to select investors for seven of eight North-South expressway projects in the form of public-private partnerships (PPPs).
The seven projects called for bidding process include the expressway from Mai Son district in northern Ninh Binh province to National Highway No. 45 in northcentral Thanh Hoa province, the highway from National Highway No. 45 to Nghi Son district in Thanh Hoa province, the highway from Nghi Son to Dien Chau district in north-central Nghe An province, the expressway from Dien Chau to Bai Vot district in north-central Ha Tinh province, the highway from Nha Trang city to Cam Lam district in south-central Khanh Hoa province, the expressway from Cam Lam to Vinh Hao district in south-central Binh Thuan province, and the highway from Vinh Hao to Phan Thiet district in Binh Thuan province.
North-South Expressway (NSE) project details
Construction work on the Cao Bo-Mai Son expressway in the Northern provinces of Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh will be the first entirely state-funded NS expressway project is expected to begin in 2019.
The 15km expressway with four lane roads is estimated to be completed with an investment of about $226.89 million.The technical design for the Cao Bo-Mai Son expressway has been completed and site clearance is underway in January 2019.
Cam Lo-La Son expressway located in central provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue will be the second state-funded NS expressway project to start work in 2019. The 98km expressway is expected to be completed with an investment of $330.43 million. The technical design consultancy for the project has been completed and work is set to begin in 2019. The expressway once completed will connect Ho Chi Minh Highway with the nearlycomplete La Son-Tuy Loan expressway and the Da Nang- Quang Ngai expressway, and will boost connectivity between key economic regions from Quang Tri to Quang Ngai.
The third state-funded project along the North-South Expressway to kick off in 2019 will be My Thuan 2 Bridge, which will cross the Tien River to connect the southern provinces of Tien Giang and Vinh Long. The 6.6km long new bridge, 350 meters (383 yards) upstream from the existing My Thuan Bridge, will link the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway with the My Thuan-Can Tho expressway. The bridge is estimated to be constructed with an investment of $214.59 million. Construction is expected to begin by the end of 2019. The first 650km section of NS expressway project will be completed by 2020, and the other sections are expected to be ready for traffic by 2025.
The NSE will connect socioeconomic development centers running from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, linking up industrial parks, economic zones and seaports, and reduces transport pressure on the national road No. 1.
