The Cuu Long Corporation for Investment Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (Cuu Long CIPM) has worked with authorities in the delta's Can Tho City and Hau Giang Province to appraise the options for its proposed Chau Doc-Can Tho-Soc Trang expressway.

It will run along the Hau River from Chau Doc Town in An Giang near the Cambodian border to the coastal Soc Trang Town, passing through Can Tho and the provinces of Hau Giang and Soc Trang.

In the first phase the expressway will be 17 meters (56 feet) wide before widening to over 24 meters and having speed limits of up to 120 kilometers per hour.

Estimated to cost around VND30 trillion ($1.3 billion), it is set to break ground in 2023 and be completed in three years.

The expressway will include 130 bridges and 50 intersections, and be linked with other key routes like National Highway 1A and Route N1.

The project is considered a key piece to complete the transport network in the area and boost connectivity with Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries.

Le Tien Dung, director of the Can Tho's transport department, called on the project's consultants to look into linking it with the parallel National Highway 91 and Bon Tong-Mot Ngan Road to reduce pressure on it.

Hau Giang Province's Vice Chairman Nguyen Van Tuan wanted them to adjust the route so that it would not affect industrial and residential zones and martyrs' cemeteries in Chau Thanh A District.

The expressway has been approved by the government and the Ministries of Transport and Planning and Investment consider it a priority.

The research and consultancy for it is done by 625 Civil Engineering Consultants JSC and South Korea's Jinwoo Engineering Co. Ltd.