HCMC – The Ministry of Transport has approved a VND750 billion budget for upgrading the Lo Te-Rach Soi road, which connects Can Tho City and Kien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta.
The upgrade includes laying additional asphalt pavement on the road’s surface, improving technical facilities and increasing emergency stops along the road.
The project will maintain the current four-lane design and be executed between 2022 and 2024.
In early 2021, the road was opened to automobile traffic only, with a maximum speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour. It joins the Duc Hoa-Rach Soi section of the Ho Chi Minh Road.
As planned, the road will eventually be expanded to a six-lane expressway as part of the North-South Expressway project in the country’s west.
Currently, the project contractors are still on-site to carry out the needed maintenance, which is in accordance with the warranty obligation lasting until January 2023.
Work on the upgrading project would begin only after the warranty contract ends, according to the ministry.
The project’s phase one requires a total cost of VND6,355 billion, using funding from South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund and Vietnam’s reciprocal capital.
The Lo Te-Rach Soi road is aimed at easing traffic pressure on National Highway 80, which runs alongside for about 1.5 kilometers apart. Despite the rising transportation demand, the latter cannot be enlarged due to the high density of residences.