HCMC – The Quang Tri government has proposed the prime minister and the ministries of Transport and Planning & Investment add the Cam Lo-Lao Bao expressway project to the country’s expressway development plan in the 2021-2025 period, with a vision toward 2030, at a cost of VND7.7 trillion.
The expressway project connecting Cam Lo District with the Lao Bao international border gate in Huong Hoa District will be 70 kilometers long and 17 meters wide and have four lanes.
Some 28.3% of the total investment of the project, which will be executed under the public-private partnership, is expected to be sourced from the State budget, the local media reported.
The construction of the expressway is aimed at helping to link economic zones and key traffic routes, enhance transport capacity and promote socioeconomic growth.
It is necessary to develop the expressway to ease the burden on National Highway 9 connecting Dong Ha City and the Lao Bao border gate and stimulate export-import activities, said the provincial government.
Over the past few months, the number of vehicles, mainly container trucks, using the national highway to transport goods between Vietnam and Laos has surged.
In 2020, the value of imports and exports through the Lao Bao and La Lay international border gates reached US$379 million with 1.28 million tons of goods. Besides, over 17,000 shipments of goods weighing 1.5 million tons were transited at the Lao Bao international border gate.
Quang Tri Province is forecast to see a boom in import-export activities in the 2021-2030 period.
