HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Transport has proposed the Government allocate VNĐ932 billion (US$40 million) from contingency reserves for the Mỹ Thuận-Cần Thơ expressway project to entice businesses to invest in the project.

The sum is part of the total investment for project of VNĐ5.4 trillion (US$232 million), but the ministry has proposed disbursing it now to complete land clearance work to find an investor for the project.

Potential investors have been reluctant to get involved, largely due to the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets which took effect in January this year, which dictated that they must win a tender to collect toll fees on the HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway to fund the Mỹ Thuận-Cần Thơ expressway project.

Previously, Thăng Long Management Board under the Ministry of Transport submitted a shortlist of investors to the ministry.

However, with the change in legal documents, the selection process for project’s investors must be conducted again. 

Eleven investors, including those from the Republic of Korea and China, have expressed interest.

Earlier in 2016, then Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved the Mỹ Thuận – Cần Thơ Highway project in the Mekong Delta being conducted under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode.

Accordingly, toll booths would be built on the HCM City – Trung Lương Expressway (from the city to Tiền Giang province) to fund the project, and also on the new highway once completed.

The ministry said the Mỹ Thuận – Cần Thơ Expressway, part of the HCMC-Cần Thơ Expressway, is an important route in the north - south expressway system, facilitating transport between HCMC and the Mekong Delta

The volume of vehicles on this route will increase rapidly in the coming time, especially after the construction of Mỹ Thuận 2 Bridge, it said.

The 23.6-length Mỹ Thuận-Cần Thơ Expressway will start at the intersection of National Highway 80, and will end at the Chà Và Intersection of National Highway 1A, both in the Mekong Delta province of Vĩnh Long. — VNS