The board will conduct preliminary evaluations of the 32 dossiers within one month, the Ministry of Transport (MoT) has said. The identity of companies and consortiums who have submitted applications has not been disclosed.

Investors who pass the preliminary assessment stage will next be inspected by the MoT. The ministry is expected to announce results of the bidding by February 2020, deciding the contractors for eight sub-projects of the North-South Expressway, to be built under the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model.

The MoT will score investors on 100 points, 60 for financial capacity, 30 for experience and 10 for construction method. Up to five of the highest scoring investors will be selected for each sub-project, it said.

The eight sub-projects had originally been bid out to international investors, but the MoT had decided in September not to invite foreign bids, saying only a few qualified and this could lead to a low level of competition.

Eleven subprojects of the transnational expressway, including the aforementioned eight, have total investment cost of VND118.72 trillion ($5.11 billion), of which VND55 trillion ($2.37 billion) from the government.

Work on the first of the state-funded sections began in early October, while work on the eight PPP sections could begin next April, the ministry has said.

The 11 sections will run 654 kilometers between northern Nam Dinh Province and Vinh Long Province to the southwest of Ho Chi Minh City.

The expressway will have a total length of more than 2,000 kilometers, and its estimated completion date is in 2025.