Construction on Mỹ Thuận – Cần Thơ Expressway project is expected to start this year and be completed within 24 months. — Photo baodautu.vn

VĨNH LONG — Vĩnh Long Province has stepped up efforts to speed up site clearance, compensation and resettlement for households affected by the Mỹ Thuận – Cần Thơ Expressway project’s first phase.

The provincial People’s Committee on Friday (April 3) met with the project’s investor, the Cửu Long Corp for Investment, Development and Project Management of Transport Infrastructure (Cửu Long CIPM).

Trần Hoàng Tựu, vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said a site clearance board had been established to closely work with the Cửu Long CIPM to speed up progress of the project.

He urged the Cửu Long CIPM to quickly send documents related to the project to local authorities for implementing compensation, site clearance, and resettlement assistance for affected households.

The corporation will ask the Ministry of Transport to grant approval to build a path linking National Highway 1 in Vĩnh Long Province to the Mỹ Thuận – Cần Thơ Expressway, and to upgrade three bridges on provincial Highway No 908, he said.

“That will improve the efficiency of the expressway,” he said.

The path leading to the expressway will address local businesses' need to transport goods faster and will help reduce traffic jams in the area.

Upgrading Kênh Bô Kê, Cái Tàu Sóc Tro and Kênh Tư bridges will help ensure smooth traffic flow on provincial Highway No 908 which connects National Highway 1A and the expressway.

The Mỹ Thuận – Cần Thơ Expressway, part of the HCM City – Cần Thơ Expressway, is an important route in the north-south expressway system, facilitating transport between HCM City and the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta.

Phan Duy Lai, deputy director of Cửu Long CIPM, said the expressway project's first phase will be built under a public-private partnership (PPP) investment form with a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

Project investment has total capital of more than VNĐ4.7 trillion (US$201.5 million), including VNĐ932 billion ($39.5 million) for site clearance sourced from the State budget.

It will cover around 153ha of land in Long Hồ and Bình Tân districts, Bình Minh Town and Vĩnh Long City in Vĩnh Long Province, and Đồng Tháp Province’s Châu Thành District.

With a total length of nearly 23 kilometres with six lanes, the expressway will start at Mỹ Thuận 2 Bridge and end at the starting point of Cần Thơ Bridge on National Highway 1A.

Localities are asked to hand over land for construction of the expressway project before November 10.

The expressway construction is expected to begin this year and to be completed in 2022. — VNS