Vietnam set to launch key road project
01 January 2000
Vietnam is set to kick off an ambitious project early this year to develop the country's second major road artery at a cost of millions of dollars, said an official with the Ministry of Communications and Transport.
The official unveiled that the Politburo had approved the project and that the government had mapped out a financing plan for the road so that the project could start this year.
The Truong Son Cong Nghiep Hoa Road, which will run parallel to the existing National Highway 1, is expected to be open to traffic in 2002.
In the initial stage, finance will be focused on completing the section from Ha Tinh Province in the north to Ngoc Hoi in the Central Highlands province of Kontum. The section will help ease traffic on Highway 1 if the flood-prone central region is hit by natural disasters.
On the section from Ha Tinh to Ha Tay, west of Hanoi, several new bridges will be built while some parts of highways 15, 21 and 71, which most of the planned backbone passes, will be upgraded.
The road, most of which will run along the famed Ho Chi Minh Trail, is part of Vietnam is expected to spend VND1,000 billion($77 million) annually on the project in the initial stages.
