A US$174 million project to expand a National Highway 1 section that links Thanh Hoa Province’s Nghi Son District and Nghe An Province’s Cau Giat Town, both in Central Vietnam, kicked off during a ceremony held in Nghe An Tuesday.

Under the project, the road section will be expanded from two lanes to four lanes for motorized vehicles with a speed limit of 80 kph, with two more lanes for non-motorized vehicles .

Civil Engineering Construction Corporation 4 (Cienco 4), and Corporation 319 under the Ministry of National Defense will jointly invest in the 34-km road expansion project, which is estimated to cost more than VND3,627 billion (US$174.3 million).

The two investors will get loans from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to fund the project, which is expected to be completed in 2015.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung praised the effort of all the parties involved in the project and asked the investors to ensure the progress and quality of the road expansion.

This is the third project to be developed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model to enlarge the highway after the Government approved a plan to expand the entire road by 2020 to meet the increasing number of vehicles using it.

Three days ago, another project to expand another section of the national highway also started in central Quang Nam province. The 40-km section will be enlarged at an estimated cost of more than VND 1.6 trillion ($80 million).

National Highway 1A, which is of significant importance for the country’s socio-economic development and national defense, has seriously deteriorated in recent years, leading to congestion and accidents.