Calling on Japan to support investment in Hanoi - Vientiane expressway passing through Nghe An
At a working session with Mr. Katsuro Nagai, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam on July 11, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho said that the Governments of Vietnam and Laos have identified the expressway connecting Hanoi and Vientiane as one of the strategic connection projects that need to be invested in and built in the coming time.
The route will help meet the demand for increased two-way trade between the two countries and create the premise for Laos to become a regional freight transit center. The opening of the expressway connecting the two capitals will combine and take advantage of Laos' central position in ASEAN and Vietnam's seaport advantages.
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| The Hanoi - Vientiane expressway has been approved to pass through Thanh Thuy - Thanh Chuong Border Gate (Nghe An). Photo courtesy of Nguyen Nguyen |
» Construction of Hanoi - Vientiane expressway through Thanh Thuy border gate
According to Deputy Minister Tho, the scale of the route is from 4 to 6 lanes, following the direction of Vientiane - Pacxan - Thanh Thuy border gate - the intersection connecting to the future North - South expressway and to Nghe An - Ninh Binh - Hanoi. This is the shortest route compared to other routes that have been surveyed and researched.
“Vietnam and Laos are looking forward to Japan’s support for investment in the project through organizations such as JICA and ADB. I hope that the Ambassador will report to the Japanese Government to consider this request from Vietnam and Laos,” Deputy Minister Tho expressed, adding that if the financial situation is difficult, specific investment will be divided into phases for each section of the route during the feasibility report preparation phase.
In response to the call for investment support, Ambassador Katsuro Nagai affirmed that he will continue to seek more specific information on forecasts of traffic development, cargo and passenger traffic, capital recovery plans, etc. and report to the Japanese Government for research and consideration of investment support for this project.
The expressway connecting Hanoi Capital - Vientiane Capital is marked in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Vietnam and the Government of Laos on the Transport Cooperation Strategy for the period 2016 - 2025, vision 2030 signed on September 14, 2015 in Vientiane.
If invested, the route will combine with other expressways in Thailand and Myanmar to form a new East-West economic corridor connecting the Pacific Ocean (Vietnam's deep-water ports) to the Indian Ocean (Myanmar's Dawei port) with a distance of about 1,500km, while if going by the current sea route, the length is about 5,500km.
Thus, this route will significantly reduce the operating costs for this transport route.
| According to the Ministry of Transport, in 2017, the two countries will organize the next steps to soon realize the investment project to build a highway connecting Hanoi and Vientiane, especially working with sponsors to call for support and investment. According to the pre-feasibility study, the total length of the route from Vientiane Capital to Hanoi Capital is about 725km. The length of the route in Laos is about 355km, which is under study for new construction. Vietnam's territory is about 370km, of which 65km from Thanh Thuy border gate to Vinh city, Nghe An province is being researched for new construction; the remaining 305km on the Vietnamese side has a plan for investment and construction and is expected to be completed before 2022. The entire route is studied according to the standards of a complete 6-lane highway, with a design speed of 100km/h - 120km/h. In sections with particularly difficult terrain, the design speed is 80km/h. |
According to Kieu Linh/vneconomy
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