The joint venture among Deo Ca Group, Hai Thach Investment Construction JSC and 194 Construction Investment Corporation was named the investor of the Cam Lam-Vinh Hao Highway – a section of the North-South Expressway.

The North-South Expressway is a key national project.

Under Decision No.09/QD-BGTVT recently signed by Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan, the joint venture will use the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) form to participate in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project.

The four-lane highway is expected to cost nearly VND9 trillion (US$389.6 million), over VND3.7 trillion of which is sourced from the investors, and the remainder from the State.

Construction of the 78.5-kilometre highway running through Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces will last 24 months, while that of Nui Vung tunnel is said to take 30 months to complete. The highway.

The investors are entitled to collect tolls for 17 years and 15 days.

The North-South Expressway is a key national project that prioritises investment in the 2017- 2020 period, and has a total length of 654km.

The North-South transport corridor, with the North-South Expressway from Lang Son to Ca Mau acting as its “backbone”, plays an important role in the economic development of the country.

The expressway goes through 32 provinces and cities, connecting four key economic regions, including two major economic centres - Hanoi and HCM City.

Particularly, the Hanoi-HCM City section passes through 20 provinces and cities, affecting 45% of the population and accounting for 52% of the country’s total domestic product. It also has a major impact on seaports and economic zones of the country.

From October 2-5 last year, project management boards opened bids to select investors for five of the sub-projects. However, only three sub-projects with two investors submitted bidding documents, namely Dien Chau – Bai Vot, Nha Trang - Cam Lam and Cam Lam - Vinh Hao.

The two remaining projects did not have any bids from investors, including the National Highway No.45 - Nghi Son and Nghi Son –Dien Chau.

Thus, the Government proposed the National Assembly Standing Committee consider transforming the investment models for the two projects.

The NASC on January 11 agreed to change two Eastern North-South Expressway sub-projects from public-private partnership to solely public.

Investment for the sub-projects totals VND100.8 trillion (US$4.3 billion), with VND78.4 trillion sourced from the State budget.

The North-South Expressway project has 11 component projects, nine of which are expected to be completed by 2022.