Over $120 million may be earmarked for the construction of a road which would link the longest expressway in Vietnam to Sa Pa, a famous resort town in the northern region.

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According to a proposal put forward by the People’s Committee of Lao Cai Province, Provincial Highway 155 will be built under a project which costs a total of 2.6 trillion (US$122.1 million), the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism cited Dau Tu (Investment), a local newswire, as saying.   

The proposed new road will link Sa Pa with the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway, which is the country’s longest of its kind, and the neighboring province of Lai Chau and run along with the existing National Highway 4D.

Most of the road will have two traffic lanes, while the sections shared by National Highway 4D and Provincial Highway 155 will have four lanes.

The construction of the road is expected to ease traffic in the area as the section of National Highway 4D spanning Lao Cai and Lai Chau Provinces and Sa Pa will be overloaded by 2016.

The provincial People’s Committee proposed the project adopt the BOT (build-operate-transfer) model with state assistance.

Under this plan the government will spend VND1.2 trillion ($56.86 million) on building Provincial Highway 155, while the investor will put aside a BOT investment sum of VND1.4 trillion ($65.24 million) for renovating the existing National Highway 4D.

Sa Pa is expected to receive around five million tourist visits each year by 2020, with the traffic volume estimated to reach roughly 5,000 vehicles each day by 2016, which is beyond the existing National Highway 4D’s capacity.      The 245-km Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway was opened to traffic in September 2014, halving the travel time between Hanoi and Lao Cai.

The expressway runs from Hanoi’s Noi Bai through the provinces of Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, and Yen Bai before reaching Lao Cai, the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), the road’s investor, said in September last year.   The expressway features 120 bridges, including two large ones that span the Hong (Red) and Lo Rivers. It also has a 530-meter long tunnel, 13 toll collection stations, and five rest stops.

The expressway helps shorten the travel time from Hanoi to Lao Cai from the current seven hours to 3.5 hours, the VEC said.

In addition, vehicles using the expressway can now use less fuel, as they will not have to stop so frequently.

The road also helps relieve traffic density, as well as traffic accidents, on National Highways 2, 2B, 32C, and 70.

The expressway is part of the Kunming-Hai Phong Transport Corridor and belongs to the Greater Mekong Subregion cooperative program linking Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and China.

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