The 55km section, which will require investment of about USD 1 billion, will link to the HCM City’s East-West Highway and connect with the 40km HCM City-Trung Luong expressway to form an express route of nearly 100km.

The express route, which will link HCM City with several districts in Dong Nai Province, will pave the way for socio-economic development of HCM City, Dong Nai, Long An and other neighbouring provinces.

Dung said well-developed, modern infrastructure, particularly roads and highways, would be a major factor in speeding up Viet Nam’s industrialisation. He added that the development of an expressway system was a top priority.

Tran Xuan Sanh, general director of the Viet Nam Express Investment and Development Corporation, the investor of the expressway project, said the section was expected to facilitate transportation to the southeastern provinces, and boost the development of the port chain on the Thi Vai-Cai Mep River and satellites cities of HCM City.

Sanh said it would be a crucial route to link the proposed Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai Province with HCM City and Mekong Delta provinces. He said the four-lane section would have safe barriers, footpaths, three bridges, traffic control and toll stations.

The section starts at the An Phu intersection in HCM City’s District 2, where it meets with East-West Highway. It will run through three wards in District 9, then arrive in Dong Nai Province’s Long Thanh District and go through the districts of Nhon Trach and Cam Luy, ending at Thong Nhat District’s Dau Giay intersection.

The stretch from An Phu to Long Thanh is 24.7km long and the Long Thanh-Dau Giay section is 30.3 kilometres.

Sanh said it would take 35 years to recoup capital for the project, which is expected to be put into use in 2012.

Capital for the project was estimated at USD 932.7 million, including ODA (official development assistance) loans of USD 516.5 sourced from the Japanese Government, USD 410.2 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and contingency costs from VEC, he said.

HCM City People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan said the city authorities would enhance co-operation with the investors as well as contractors to ensure progress on the project.