Vietnam mulls $860 million northwestern expressway
A pre-feasibility study is set to be done for the VND20 trillion ($861.82 million) Hoa Binh - Moc Chau expressway.
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| Hoa Binh-Moc Chau highway will connect with existing Hoa Lac-Hoa Binh expressway (Photo by VnExpress) |
The 85-kilometer expressway will run from Hoa Binh town in the province of the same name to Moc Chau District in Son La Province in the northern mountains.
It will link up with an existing highway between Hanoi and Hoa Binh, thus helping reduce the travel time between Hanoi and Moc Chau to just two hours from the current 4-5 hours.
The expressway, to be built by a public-private partnership, will have four lanes and require 870 hectares of land.
To determine if the expressway is needed, the government has asked the Ministry of Transport for a report on the current state of transport infrastructure in the northwestern region compared to the rest of the country.
It has also ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to research the impacts of using agricultural and protected forest land for the expressway, including the risks of flash floods and landslides.
