Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the ceremony. (Photo: VGP / Quang Hieu)

On the same day, in Dong Nai province, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh attended the groundbreaking ceremony of Phan Thiet-Dau Giay road section in Binh Thuan province, while Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung launched the Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet project. The three projects worth a total of 1.6 billion USD are part of the North-South Expressway in the East. Once completed by the end of 2022, over 250km of expressway will be opened to traffic.

Groundbreaking ceremony of Mai Son - Highway 45 project in Ha Long commune, Ha Trung district, Thanh Hoa province, September 30, 2020. (Photo: VGP / Quang Hieu)

Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized the projects’ contributions to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.

He said, “September 30 this year is a meaningful day, especially for the transport sector when North-South in the East expressway projects are simultaneously implemented. In October the dossiers of the remaining five projects will be processed. The three projects which started today use the State budget, while the next five projects will be invested in the form of PPP (Public Private Partnership). If the expressways projects progress as scheduled, in this tenure, nearly 2,000km of expressways will be built. In particular, we have asked the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and related agencies to ensure smooth transport route from Lang Son to Ca Mau Cape, so that we have at least 5,000km of expressways.”