City authorities on Thursday held discussions with their Binh Phuoc counterparts to speed up the work. They agreed it would be built under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, with 47 percent coming from the government and the rest from private investors.

The 70-km expressway will run from Chon Thanh District in Binh Phuoc Province to the Go Dua Intersection in HCMC’s Thu Duc City through Binh Duong Province, and have six to eight lanes. Binh Phuoc is famous for cultivation of cash crops including rubber, pepper and cashew.

At present vehicles have to travel 120 km from HCMC to Binh Phuoc via National Highway 13.

At a conference held last year to discuss ways to improve traffic infrastructure in the southeastern region, officials and experts agreed that a lack of regional connectivity and overloading of major gateways were preventing the region from realizing its full potential.

Vietnam has nearly 1,000 km of expressways, and expects to build another 2,000 km by 2025, including 900 km this year alone.