New direction of the Prime Minister on the plan to expand the North-South expressway

In addition to the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), there are currently 6 other investors proposing investment plans to expand to 6 lanes for the entire or some sections of the Eastern North-South Expressway.

The North-South Expressway, East, Nghi Son - National Highway 45 section has 4 lanes and no emergency lane.

The Government Office has just issued Official Dispatch No. 7370/VPCP - CN to the Minister of Construction on the investment plan to expand the eastern sections of the North - South Expressway under the PPP method.

Specifically, regarding the study of investment in expanding the eastern North-South expressway sections under the PPP method, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assigned the Ministry of Construction to carefully study the plan to divide the sections, ensuring scientific, based on practice (possibly 5 to 6 sections so that investors have enough capacity); propose 1 investor to implement.

If necessary, the Ministry of Construction shall propose mechanisms and policies and submit them to the National Assembly at the October 2025 session.

In early July 2025, the Ministry of Construction sent a document to Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requesting the Ministry of Construction to coordinate with relevant agencies to prepare for investment under the PPP form in 2025.

After completing all component projects on the Eastern North-South Expressway, toll collection will be implemented on public investment sections according to the Resolution of the National Assembly and regulations of the Road Law (expected from January 2026); at the same time, during the toll collection process, the Ministry of Construction will select PPP investors according to regulations, in which priority will be given to investment according to the O&M plan combined with BOT on the entire route to synchronize and promote the efficiency of the entire route.

Previously, the Ministry of Construction reported to the Government leaders the plan to expand 18 component projects of the North-South Eastern Expressway under the Investment Project to build some sections of the North-South Eastern Expressway in the 2017-2020 period and the Investment Project to build the North-South Eastern Expressway in the 2021-2025 period.

Specifically, for 15 public investment component projects, the Ministry of Construction proposed to allow toll collection on routes according to the Resolution of the National Assembly and the Road Law; during the toll collection process, based on the actual situation, investment will be deployed to expand the routes in the form of PPP.

For the 3 component projects currently operating under PPP, the Ministry of Construction will continue to work with the operating investors to study expansion investment options (adjust the term of previously signed contracts, and arrange state budget support if necessary).

Recently, implementing the direction of the Government leaders, VEC has proposed an investment plan to expand 15 sections of the North-South Expressway (excluding 3 sections invested in BOT) by dividing them into 2 projects: Project 1, including 8 sections with a length of about 415 km and a total investment of about 54,182 billion VND; Project 2, including 7 sections with a total length of about 551 km and a total investment of about 74,110 billion VND.

To ensure financial capacity, VEC proposes to retain the remaining profits in the 2025 - 2030 period (about 4,769 billion VND) to supplement equity capital to participate in the investment expansion of Project 1. Immediately after being assigned by the competent authority to invest in the expansion of Project 1 (selecting an investor), the project enterprise is allowed to collect tolls right on the expressways that have been invested in the form of public investment in the past.

In addition to VEC, there are currently 6 other investors interested in and proposing investment plans for the entire or some sections, including: Deo Ca proposed to invest in all 18 sections; Son Hai proposed to invest in 9 sections; Phuong Thanh proposed to invest in 3 sections; Truong Thinh (joint venture with Trung Chinh and Cienco 1) proposed to invest in 2 sections; VIDIF proposed to invest in 6 sections; Company 194 proposed to invest in 3 sections.

The North-South Eastern Expressway (CT.01) starts at Huu Nghi border gate, Lang Son province; ends at Ca Mau city; total length 2,063 km (accounting for 22% of the total length of the expressway network); planned with a scale of 6-12 lanes.

To date, the entire route has been put into operation for 1,443 km, with 597 km under construction (by the end of 2025, 554 km is expected to be completed, with 43 km remaining); the scale is mainly 4 limited lanes; some sections are being studied and implemented on a complete scale.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/chi-dao-moi-cua-thu-tuong-ve-phuong-an-mo-rong-cao-toc-bac---nam-d355063.html