QUẢNG NAM — The Việt Nam Expressway Corporation (VEC) will put the first 65km road section of the 140km Đà Nẵng-Quảng Ngãi Expressway into operation on August 2.

This is the first expressway in the central and central highlands region.

A VEC official told Việt Nam News that the first stage of the project – the  65km section from Túy Loan in Đà Nẵng City to the capital of Quảng Nam Province, Tam Kỳ City, has been completed.

The four-lane section with two emergency lanes will allow vehicles to travel at 120km per hour, reducing travel time between Đà Nẵng  and Quảng Ngãi Province.

VEC’s General Director Mai Tuấn Anh said the road was an important part of the National North-South Highway, and its second stage was scheduled for completion later this year.

He said VEC would also collect tolls from all vehicle travelling on the Túy Loan-Tam Kỳ section.

The Đà Nẵng-Quảng Ngãi Expressway project commenced construction in 2012 with a total investment of VNĐ29 trillion (US$1.4 billion), of which $635 million was sourced from the World Bank and $673 million from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

The 26m-wide four-lane link, running through Đà Nẵng-Quảng Nam and Quảng Ngãi provinces, will connect industrial parks in the region and help boost transportation in the East-West Economic Corridor that links Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Việt Nam. — VNS