The project to upgrade the Quan Lo-Phung Hiep highway that stretches 103 kilometers (64 miles) across Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, the southernmost province of Vietnam, started a year ago.

All work will be completed by the end of April, said Hoang Tuan Khoat, deputy director of No. 7 Projects Management Unit, which operates under the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam to manage southern traffic projects.

With an investment cost of VND900 billion ($39 million), the project will renovate the entire highway with work to reinforce the road’s surface and edges, add a water drainage system, fix downgraded bridges and add one more bridge in Ca Mau.

Investment for the upgrade comes from the state budget for traffic projects in urgent need for the 2016-2020 period.

The Quan Lo-Phung Hiep section has served traffic for the past 10 years and been seriously downgraded, posing an accident risk.

The highway runs parallel to National Highway 1A and once upgraded to handle more vehicles, could help shorten the distance between Nga Bay Town of Hau Giang Province and Ca Mau Town of Ca Mau Province by 50 kilometers.

Over VND198 trillion ($8.6 billion) would be needed to upgrade Mekong Delta traffic infrastructure until 2025, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said last Saturday.

The ministry has proposed to the government and agreed with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to distribute at least VND57.3 trillion to invest in delta traffic infrastructure in the next five years.

The money would be spent to upgrade and complete several expressway projects, complete a project for a sea route allowing high-capacity ships to enter the Hau River, a tributary of the Mekong, and develop logistics and waterways across southern Vietnam, among other goals.