LookAtVietnam – Transport ministry officials and experts last week listened to the first report on a plan to build an expressway connecting Dau Giay T-Junction in Dong Nai province

The Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway will have a total length of 128 kilometers.

A source said the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway would be the first project to be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) form, with investment capital estimated to US$745 million.

At the meeting, the transport ministry approved the scheme for the expressway, which will start at the junction between Dau Giay-Phan Thiet and the upcoming HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay road in Dong Nai province, and ended at Nga Hai new urban township and Ham Kiem industrial park in Binh Thuan province.

Deputy minister of transport Ngo Thinh Duc asked relevant agencies to support the developer in carrying out the plan. He expected the road would facilitate the development of new urban townships, economic zones and tourism facilities.

The Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressway will have a total length of 128 kilometers, according to the country’s expressway development master plan until 2020 prepared by the transport ministry. The six-lane road will allow vehicles to reach a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

In related news, the Ministry of Transport is preparing a plan for building a new express railway line linking HCMC and Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta, and is urging relevant agencies to work quick on a pre-feasibility study for submission to the Government in October.

In a meeting last week, deputy minister of transport Ngo Thinh Duc asked the Transport Engineering and Design Inc. South (Tedi South) under the ministry to make a detailed routing plan as well as join forces with relevant agencies in making the pre-feasibility study.

Last month, Tedi South experts had met with Can Tho authorities to present the proposed rail line, which they expected to be put into operation by 2020.

The US$4-billion project is part of a master plan of national railway development until 2020 and toward 2050 which has been approved by the Government. The railway is being designed by TEDI South with the assistance of Korea’s Chungsuk Engineering.

Nguyen Kim Lang, deputy general director of TEDI South, said the transportation demand between HCMC and the Mekong Delta region would increase many times in the coming years. So, the building of a railway between the two cities would have great importance.

The railway, 160-170 kilometers long, is expected to allow trains to reach a maximum speed of 300-350 kilometers per hour, so the travel time on this proposed HCMC-Can Tho railway will be 40-60 minutes. Currently, buses take around four or five hours, including waiting time at Can Tho Ferry Station, to travel between the two localities.

TEDI South estimates the railway will serve around 362,000 passengers a day by 2030, tripling the figure on the current HCMC-Danang railway.

VietNamNet/SGT