The cross-country road will be divided into 16 sections, with a total length of 1,811 km, around 74 km shorter than National Highway 1A, the country’s current backbone.

Vietnam will need a hefty budget of VND312.8 trillion (US$18.4 billion) for the project from now to 2020 and thereafter.

In the first phase, the first four road sections with a total length of 222 km will be finished by 2010 at a total cost of VND53.13 trillion (US$3.1 billion). The next sections will be built in the second phase from 2010 to 2020 with a total length of 1,082 km.

The third phase will develop the remaining sections and expand Phap Van-Cau Gie Expressway from four lanes to six lanes. The 30 km Phap Van-Cau Gie road in Hanoi has been already opened to traffic.

In early 2007, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the ministries of planning-investment and transport to speed up preparations for the cross-country expressway.

Two other expressways are under way in the country – Cau Gie-Ninh Binh and HCMC-Trung Luong. And the Road Administration and the State-owned Vietnam Expressway Corporation are raising funds for 13 other expressway projects.

Mai Anh Tuan, deputy head of the road administration, said the master plan would provide investors with an overview of the next backbone of the nation.

The ministry will invite local and international tenders for construction of the expressway under various investment forms such as build-operate-transfer (BOT), build-transfer (BT), build-operate-own (BOO), and public-private partnership (PPP).

Deputy Transport Minister Ngo Thinh Duc said State money would go to priority road sections and that the ministry wanted greater public participation in expressway development.

As for the 12 expressway sections proposed for construction until 2020, one has been completed, two are under way, and three will get off the ground this year using State finances and official development assistance loans.

These include HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay, Trung Luong-My Thuan, My Thuan-Can Tho and Danang-Quang Ngai.

Vietnam Cement Corporation, Binh Minh Export and Import Corporation (Bitexco) and Song Da Corporation have proposed developing four expressways – Ninh Binh -Thanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa-Vinh, Dau Giay-Phan Thiet and Phan Thiet-Nha Trang.