Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the temporary opening of the expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with My Tho City in Tien Giang Province, as proposed by the Transport Ministry.
The roadway, which ends at Trung Luong T-Junction, will open February 3 to help ease traffic congestion on National Highway 1A, which is to increase ahead of the upcoming Tet (lunar New Year) holiday that falls on February 14 this year.
The Transport Ministry must coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, and authorities in localities that the HCM City-Trung Luong Highway runs through, to ensure the safety of travelers while the expressway is being used, Mr. Dung said.
He also ordered the transport ministry to issue regulations regarding the management of the highway before opening it.
In addition, PM Dung asked the BIDV Expressway Development Company (BEDC), the investor of the highway, to join the Transport Ministry in managing and operating the highway temporarily.
The ministry must be ready to transfer the management and operation of the highway to the BEDC on April 1 as scheduled, he said.
The HCM City-Trung Luong Highway is 62 km long with eight lanes and a speed limit of 120km per hour. Total investment in the project is over VND9.88 trillion (US$535 million) from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV).
