Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung kicked off the construction of the first 55-km section of the North-South Expressway project on Oct. 3.
Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City , PM Dung said the section from HCM City via the Long Thanh international airport to Dau Giay in southern Dong Nai province is important section that connects the East-West boulevard and the HCM City-Trung Luong expressway.
Once completed in 2013, the section would facilitate socio-economic development in HCM City , Dong Nai province and the whole eastern southern key economic triangle.
PM Dung expressed thanks to the Japanese Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for their assistance to the project, saying it would contribute to the cooperation between Vietnam and Japan and the ADB.
The HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay section will have four lanes in the first phase and eight lanes in the second phase in the 24-km An Phu-Long Thanh section or six lanes in the 31-km Long Thanh-Dau Giay section.
It is capitalised at 932.4 million USD, with 516.5 million USD as loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 410.2 million USD as loan from the ADB, and 5.7 million USD contributed by the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC).
