Hanoi (VNA) – The joint venture among Deo Ca Group, Hai ThachInvestment Construction JSC and 194 Construction Investment Corporation wasnamed the investor of the Cam Lam-Vinh Hao Highway – a section of theNorth-South Expressway.

Under Decision No.09/QD-BGTVT recently signed by Deputy Minister of TransportLe Anh Tuan, the joint venture will use the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) formto participate in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project.

The four-lane highway is expected to cost nearly 9 trillion VND (389.6 millionUSD), over 3.7 trillion VND of which is sourced from the investors, and theremainder from the State.

Construction of the 78.5-kilometre highway running through Khanh Hoa, NinhThuan and Binh Thuan provinces will last 24 months, while that of Nui Vungtunnel is said to take 30 months to complete. The highway.

The investors are entitled to collect tolls for 17 years and 15 days.

The North-South Expresswayis a key national project that prioritises investment in the 2017- 2020 period,and has a total length of 654km.

The North-Southtransport corridor, with the North-South Expressway from Lang Son to Ca Mau actingas its “backbone”, plays an important role in the economic development ofthe country.

The expresswaygoes through 32 provinces and cities, connecting four key economicregions, including two major economic centres - Hanoi and HCM City.

Particularly, the Hanoi-HCMCity section passes through 20 provinces and cities, affecting 45 percent ofthe population and accounting for 52 percent of the country’s total domesticproduct. It also has a major impact on seaports and economic zones of thecountry.

From October 2-5last year, project management boards opened bids to select investors for fiveof the sub-projects. However, only three sub-projects with two investorssubmitted bidding documents, namely Dien Chau – Bai Vot, Nha Trang - Cam Lamand Cam Lam - Vinh Hao.

The two remainingprojects did not have any bids from investors, including the National HighwayNo.45 - Nghi Son and Nghi Son –Dien Chau.

Thus, the Government proposed the NationalAssembly Standing Committee consider transforming the investment models for thetwo projects.

The NASC onJanuary 11 agreed to change two Eastern North-South Expressway sub-projectsfrom public-private partnership to solely public.

Investment for thesub-projects totals 100.8 trillion VND (4.3 billion USD), with 78.4 trillionVND sourced from the State budget.

The North-South Expressway project has 11 componentprojects, nine of which are expected to be completed by 2022./.