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 and built in the coming time.

The route will help meet the demand for increased two-way trade turnover 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 be a combination, taking advantage of Laos' central position in ASEAN and Vietnam's seaport advantages.

The Hanoi - Vientiane expressway was 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, going in 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 stages for each route section 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 of Thailand and Myanmar to form a new East-West economic corridor connecting from the Pacific Ocean (Vietnam's deep-water seaports) 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 Kieu Linh/vneconomy