President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (centre) attends a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the Trung Lương-Mỹ Thuận Expressway to traffic on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HCM CITY — The Trung Lương-Mỹ Thuận Expressway between Tiền Giang Province and Cần Thơ City opened to traffic yesterday.

It runs from the point where the HCM City-Trung Luong Expressway ends to Highway No.30, a distance of over 51km.

It is expected to reduce the pressure on National Highway 1 in the Mekong Delta province of Tiền Giang.

It was built at a cost of more than VNĐ12 trillion (US$519 million) and involved 25 bidding packages and a number of contractors.

Construction began in 2009 and was originally expected to be finished by 2013, but there were frequent delays due to lack of funds and changes in investment policies.

The expressway is a part of the eastern section of the North-South Expressway.

The expressway, which is an extension of the existing HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway, together with the under-construction Mỹ Thuận-Cần Thơ Expressway will enable smooth transport from HCM City to Cần Thơ City.

It makes travel between HCM City and Cần Thơ City smooth and reduces the travel time to two hours from the current three to four.

President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc attended the opening ceremony of the expressway, where he hailed efforts by leaders of Tiền Giang and Đèo Cả Group as well as agencies in overcoming difficulties, especially in relocating more than 3,200 households at the project site, to complete the project with high quality.

He requested the construction sector to speed up the progress of Mỹ Thuận Bridge and the Mỹ Thuận-Cần Thơ Expressway to complete the entire route from Trung Lương to Cần Thơ Province.

The State leader also assigned the Ministry of Transport to make plans for the construction of the expressway, railway and waterway routes linking Cần Thơ and HCM City. — VNS

A view of the new Trung Lương-Mỹ Thuận expressway in Tiền Giang Province which opened to traffic on Jan 19. — Photo: sggp.org.vn