Plans call for four lanes devoted to motorised vehicles and two for non-motorised rides, as well as an improvement of existing road surfaces. The wishlist, which was signed by the Minister of Transport on September 30, proves the efforts to quickly widen National Highway No 1 to six lanes, with parallel expressways as an option.

According to the ministerial decision, the estimated construction cost of a listed build-operate-transfer (BOT) project with the length of less than 30 kilometres would be in the range of VND930 billion ($44.7 million) to VND2.1 trillion ($101 million) depending on factual conditions of each location and building requirements.

Thus the total cost estimates for listed 15 projects could reach VND23 trillion ($1.105 billion), according to the decision. At present, at least one-third of those 15 BOT projects have received investment proposals from potential domestic investors.

For example, two BOT projects – the Ca Pass Tunnel and the Phu Gia Tunnel, were led by the Ca Pass Investment Joint Stock Company and Xuan Cau Company Limited respectively.

Previously, the Minitry of Transport (MoT) proposed that the upgrade and expansion plans of National Highway No1’s Ha Tinh-Can Tho section would be divided into 18 BOT projects with 60-80km in length per each. Such a project would need an estimated investment cost of VND4-6 trillon ($192.3-$288.5 million).

A representative of the MoT’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project Management Unit (PMU) the change was needed to make the list of BOT projects on offer become more attractive to domestic investors.

Nguyen Ngoc Long, vice president of Vietnam Road and Bridge Engineering Association, said the length and construction cost reshuffle would help investors make a good return on their investments.

According to MoT’s Deputy Minister Truong Tan Vien, the PPP PMU was recently appointed to be in charge of working with investors who would be interested in taking on those listed BOT projects, instead of Directorate for Roads of Vietnam and the MoT’s Department of Planning and Investment.