HCMC – The Ministry of Transport plans to add the Can Tho-Ca Mau expressway project to the list of public investment projects in the 2021-2025 period instead of after 2030 as approved earlier by the prime minister.
The ministry announced the decision in a document sent to the Party Committee of Soc Trang Province and the provincial delegation of National Assembly deputies on their proposal to complete an expressway from HCMC to Can Tho and develop the Can Tho-Ca Mau expressway project parallel to the Quan Lo-Phung Hiep route to ensure that economic centers are connected in the localities that the expressway will pass through, the local media reported.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the Trung Luong-My Thuan section of the HCMC-Can Tho Expressway has been opened to traffic, while work on the My Thuan-Can Tho section started early this year and was expected to be completed in 2022 and that on the My Thuan 2 bridge project in 2023.
The Ministry of Transport is drawing up a plan to develop the road system in the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050, proposing adjusting the roadmap to invest in the Can Tho-Ca Mau expressway and some other projects.
The ministry has assigned the Cuu Long Corporation for Investment Development and Project Management of Infrastructure to prepare the prefeasibility reports for these projects.
After the National Assembly and the Government handed over the mid-term public investment capital in the 2021-2025 period, the ministry will coordinate with the relevant ministries, agencies and localities to review and choose important and urgent projects for the Government and the National Assembly to develop first.
As for the Can Tho-Ca Mau expressway project, besides three plans proposed by the consulting firm, the ministry has asked Cuu Long Corporation to direct the consulting firm to study a new direction of the expressway that is parallel to National Highway 1 and five to seven kilometers from Soc Trang City of the province of the same name and Bac Lieu Province.
The direction will ensure the connection of cities in the region and ease traffic on National Highway 1, especially at the gateways of large cities.