Ministry urges construction of North-South Expressway The Ministry of Transport has proposed to start the construction of the next 713km of the North-South Expressway project within this year. Ministry urges construction of North-South Expressway According to the ministry, it is necessary to build the expressway and needed to be done quickly in order to improve the economy. This is the most viable option while the high-speed railway project cannot be started yet. "The high-speed railway can't be built during 2017-2025 period, we can't delay the expressway project anymore in order to meet transport demand," the ministry wrote in the report. The North-South Expressway connects Lang Son to Ca Mau Province and is 2,109km long. About 223km has been completed and 297km are under construction. The procedure for the next 67km is being completed. National Highway 1 has been expanded to accommodate 35,000 vehicles a day. However, it is estimated that by 2020, about 42,100 vehicles will travel this highway daily. If the North-South Expressway is not completed soon, Highway 1 will be overloaded. The government plans to carry out a three-phase plan. From 2017 to 2020, the next 713km of the North-South Expressway that runs through 12 provinces and cities will be completed. From 2021 to 2025, the sections through Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Quang Ngai-Khanh Hoa provinces will be completed. After 2025, the section through Can Tho and Ca Mau City will be completed. Due to the scale of the first phase, the Ministry of Transport said it was impossible to call for investment and decided to divide the section into 11 smaller parts of which eight parts are PPP and BOT projects. The estimated cost for the first phase is over VND130trn (USD5.7bn). About VND55trn will come from government bonds, VND63.7trn from the state budget and VND11.5trn will be covered by built-transfer contracts.  dtinews.vn