Cost of ADB, JICA-funded Expressway in Vietnam Rises to $987.08M

Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has announced a plan to scale up the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, under which the total cost of the project will rise by VND4.738 trillion to VND20.63 trillion ($987.08 million).Under the adjusted plan, the total length of HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Day will be extended by four kilometers to 59 km, the state-run Dau Tu newspaper reported. The HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay will have four lanes in the first phase and eight lanes in the second phase in the An Phu-Long Thanh section and six lanes in the Long Thanh-Dau Giay section.The expressway will be developed in two phases with the first phase funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the second phase funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).JICA agreed to lend VND13.337 trillion to Vietnam to carry out the project while ADB pledged to provide VND5.648 trillion for the expressway. Developing transport infrastructure, especially expressways is one of the three most important strategic parts for the time to come, the newly appointed Minister of Transport, Dinh La Thang said. (Dau Tu – Investment Dec 12 p3)