The additional funding of VND2.18 trillion ($93.36 million) for the key southern expressway, linking HCMC with the Mekong Delta, was approved on Thursday.

Under the approved plan in 2017, the expressway originally costs VND9.67 trillion ($414 million) to build, but this sum has been recently raised to VND12.67 trillion ($543 million).

Investors have poured around VND3 trillion ($128.5 million) in the project, and the rest of the capital required to complete the expressway will come from loans, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said at a government meeting Thursday.

"The government has asked the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam to direct commercial banks to provide VND6 trillion ($257 million) for the project," The said. 

Construction of the 51-kilometer expressway that will run through five districts in southern Tien Giang Province began in 2009 and was supposed to finish in 2013, but suffered multiple delays as one investor after another pulled out.

After 10 years of delay, the project is only about 22 percent complete now, while Tien Giang Province has completed 98 percent of land clearance.