Agencies concerned should race against time to complete formalities for five large expressway projects, mostly in southern Vietnam, so that they all can be implemented within this year, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said on Friday.

The deputy PM made the direction while chairing a virtual meeting on traffic infrastructure development with relevant authorities in 22 cities and provinces the same day.

Among many expressway projects that are being implemented across the country, five are major ones that run through the country’s key southern economic areas and must, therefore, be subject to approval of the National Assembly (NA), the meeting was told.

The five projects will be submitted to the NA soon for consideration, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Duy Lam said. 

They include Belt Road No. 3 in Ho Chi Minh City, Belt Road No. 4 in Hanoi, and three expressway sections, including the 53.7 km Bien Hoa - Vung Tau route with a cost of VND17.8 trillion (US$784.6 million), the 188 km Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang section with an investment of VND45 trillion ($1.98 billion), and the Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot route spanning 117.5 km and costing VND22 trillion ($969.7 million).

Deputy chairman of Hanoi’s administration Duong Duc Tuan said that he had set up a working group to accelerate the Belt Road No. 4 project, while Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee chairman Phan Van Mai said the Belt Road No. 3 project had been ready for appraisal.

Deputy PM Thanh said the country will spend VND300 trillion ($13.2 billion) to VND400 trillion ($17.6 billion) building some 2,000 km of expressways nationwide from now until 2025.

He asked relevant ministries and authorities to race against the clock to complete procedures of the five projects and submit them to the NA for approval at its coming May session so that they can all be developed later this year and completed in 2024 or 2025.

“The sooner expressways are built, the less cost they consume,” VTC News quoted deputy PM Thanh as saying while warning that some thruway projects have yet to be implemented after being approved many years ago.

Upon operation, the projects will create a new momentum for socio-economic development in the localities they run through, the official stated.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!