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Two southern road projects to kick off this quarter
Construction will start on two roads linking Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces in this quarter which once completed will greatly help promote goods transport in the southern focal economic zone, the developer said.
The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway Development JSC (BVEC) as the developer said in a report sent to the Vietnam Road Administration that it intended to kick off the projects to expand the existing National Highway 51 and build the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway in this third quarter.
BVEC was founded by a group of large State-owned companies comprising Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (Idico), Song Da Corporation, and Bank for Investment and Development for Vietnam.
National Highway 51, stretching from a T-junction at the foot of Dong Nai bridge, will be widened into six-lane road, while the other expressway will link Bien Hoa city of Dong Nai with Vung Tau city in the coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau under the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) form.
As the demand for cargo circulation between the two provinces is rapidly increasing, especially for cargo to and from the large seaports in Cai Mep-Thi Vai area in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has urged relevant ministries and agencies to quickly expand National Highway 51. The deputy prime minister has set August as the deadline for starting up the project, but an official of the Vietnam Road Administration told the Daily that the expansion project has been challenged by the tardy site clearance.
The road administration is now in talks with the developer over the highway expansion project. The 72.7-km expanded road once in place after two years and a half at an estimated cost of VND2.07 trillion (US$116.9 million) will contribute greatly to the development of the economic triangle encompassing HCMC, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
Meanwhile, the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway is 35 meters wide with six lanes. It runs in parallel with the expanded National Highway 51, and will requite total cost of VND15.5 trillion, or some US$875 million.
Besides the above road projects, a plan for building a railway connecting Bien Hoa with ports in Cai Mep-Thi Vai is being mapped out by the transport ministry.
* In related development, the Prime Minister on Monday approved a master plan for upgrading Phu Bai Airport in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to international standards with an estimated investment capital of VND12.57 trillion.
The Government website www.chinhphu.vn reports that the investment capital would be raised from many sources including the State budget and private investors to turn Phu Bai into an international airport as well as a second-class military airport.
By 2020, the airport will be able to handle 20 aircraft at a time and receive five millions passengers and 100,000 tons of cargo a year.
The first runway of the airport will be extended to 3,048 meters long and 45 meters wide by 2020 and the second one will be built between 2020 and 2030. In the first stage, around 23 parking plots will be built in the 527-hectare airport, and the number will increase to 43 by 2030.
vietnamnet, sgt
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