Deputy Minister of Transport Tran Doan Tho announced the proposal at a signing ceremony for a co-operation agreement to develop highways between the Viet Nam Express Development Company and the Global Petro Commercial Joint Stock Bank (GP Bank) last Saturday.

At the signing ceremony, the two sides agreed to implement the agreement in two steps: first, to prepare an investment project to submit to the Government, and second, to establish a Build-Operate-Transfer Company to invest in the project.

An immediate target of the co-operation agreement is to complete the design and planning of the Cau Gie road in the northern province of Ninh Binh and invest in its section linking Ninh Binh with the central province of Thanh Hoa and Vinh City in the central province of Nghe An.

Do Van Hau, deputy chairman of the National Oil and Gas Group, said the co-operation agreement signed between the two sides ushered in a new stage in the development of highways in Viet Nam.

The National Oil and Gas Group has an income of more than VND200 trillion ($12.5 billion) a year and is a strategic stockholder in GP Bank. General Director of the Viet Nam Express Development Company Tran Xuan Sanh said the company had invested $2.5 billion in building 369km of highways, including the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh, Noi Bai - Lao Cai and HCM City - Dau Giay projects.