Proposal to assign VEC to expand Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway with capital of 3,013 billion VND

A section of Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway invested by VEC.

Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) has just submitted a document to the Prime Minister proposing to assign VEC as the competent authority to implement the project to expand Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Expressway to 6 lanes.

Risk of becoming a bottleneck

In this submission, VEC recommends that the Government leaders assign VEC as the competent authority to implement the Project in accordance with the provisions of the law on public investment.
VEC also proposed that the Ministry of Finance allocate state budget capital to participate in the Project implementation of at least VND 100 billion from the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2026 - 2030 announced by the Ministry of Finance.

“This will help promote the role of state-owned enterprises, in line with the goal of forming VEC, ensuring synchronization in the operation and exploitation of expressways, improving the efficiency of using state capital, creating conditions for enterprises to develop and contributing to the GDP growth target of 8% or more,” said Mr. Truong Viet Dong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of VEC.

The Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Expressway Project Phase 1 was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 323/QD-TTg dated April 20, 2005 and assigned VEC as the investor.
VEC started construction, completed and put into operation in 2012, with a total length of about 50 km. The current route has 4 lanes, a 25 m wide road surface, and a 35.5 m wide roadbed for 6 complete lanes. Bridges and culverts have been designed to meet the scale of 6 lanes right from phase 1 of the Project.

According to statistics, traffic volume on the route increases by an average of more than 10% per year. Currently, the route is overloaded with a scale of 4 lanes, often causing congestion - especially during holidays and Tet.

Traffic pressure on the route is increasing, at risk of becoming a "bottleneck" when the Phap Van - Cau Gie section has fully exploited 6 lanes; the Cao Bo - Mai Son section is being expanded to 6 lanes with public investment capital, expected to be completed in 2026.

In the Road Network Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 (adjusted), the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Expressway was approved with two segments: Cau Gie - Phu Thu (Km210+000 - Km226+200) is planned with 10 lanes; Phu Thu - Ninh Binh (Km226+200 - Km260+030) is planned with 6 lanes.

At the end of September 2025, the Ministry of Construction (currently the governing body of the road traffic sector) commented on the scale of investment in expanding the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway.

According to the Ministry of Construction, the planning scale is only the basis for calculation based on forecast demand. When implementing, the competent authority can decide on investment phases depending on transportation demand and resource capacity, ensuring project efficiency.

The Ministry of Construction requested VEC to direct units to research reasonable investment plans, make maximum use of existing items, and evaluate the overall efficiency of the divergence according to current standards and regulations to report to competent authorities for consideration and decision.

Investment diversification proposal

To implement this direction, VEC has conducted a survey and forecast transportation demand on the entire Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway.
The results show that the Dai Xuyen – Phu Thu section (Km210+000 – Km226+200): traffic volume has exceeded the capacity by 20-40% compared to the 4-lane scale. After 2027, it is necessary to complete the expansion to 6 lanes, which can be operated stably until 2038.

Phu Thu – Cao Bo section (Km226+200 – Km260+030): current traffic volume is at full capacity, needs to be expanded to 6 lanes after 2027, with sufficient operating capacity until 2045.

After 2045, it is necessary to study parallel roads or reasonable traffic diversion to meet increased transportation demand and ensure effective exploitation of the route.

Based on existing resources and construction conditions, VEC proposes to divide the investment phase of the Cau Gie – Ninh Binh Expressway Expansion Project to synchronize with two adjacent sections: Phap Van – Cau Gie and Cao Bo – Mai Son.

Specifically, in phase 1 (by 2027), VEC will complete the expansion to 6 lanes; in phase 2 (after 2038), it will study the expansion according to the planned scale of 10 lanes.

It is estimated that the total investment for the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Expressway expansion project with a scale of 6 lanes is about 3,013 billion VND (including loan interest during construction period), of which construction cost is 2,044 billion VND.

VEC plans to use 100 billion VND of state budget capital (part of the medium-term public investment plan 2026-2030).
The capital mobilized by VEC is 2,913 billion VND, including: VEC's own capital is 583 billion VND (including loan interest during construction period of about 294 billion VND); loan capital from domestic credit institutions is 2,330 billion VND.

It is known that on February 19, 2025, the National Assembly passed Resolution No. 191/2025/QH15 on the policy of additional investment in charter capital for the 2024-2026 period of the parent company - VEC.
On that basis, the Prime Minister approved the plan to invest in additional charter capital in Decision No. 1145/QD-TTg dated June 13, 2025; the Ministry of Finance issued Decision No. 2395/QD-BTC dated July 21, 2025, accordingly, the total charter capital of VEC in 2025 after being supplemented will reach about VND 38,618 billion.

Pursuant to Clause 5, Article 19 of Law No. 68/2025/QH15 dated June 14, 2025 on management and investment of state capital in enterprises (stipulating that capital mobilization for production and business must not exceed 3 times the enterprise's equity), VEC can mobilize a maximum of about VND 115,854 billion, meeting the capital mobilization capacity to implement expansion projects.

According to the proposal, the project is expected to start construction in the third quarter of 2026 and be completed and put into operation in the fourth quarter of 2027, or according to the direction of the Prime Minister. "The synchronous expansion of the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh route will remove traffic congestion and improve the transport capacity of the North - South expressway axis in the East, the northern section", affirmed the leader of VEC.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/de-xuat-giao-vec-mo-rong-tuyen-cao-toc-cau-gie---ninh-binh-von-3013-ty-dong-d423796.html