National Highway 20 upgrade to begin this week
By Anh Quan - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – National Highway 20 upgrading project will be kicked off this Friday to assure bauxite transport from Tan Rai alumina factory in the Central Highlands Province of Lam Dong to Go Dau Port in Dong Nai Province.
The Ministry of Transport told the Daily that the upgrading project on National Highway 20 would be divided into two smaller sections stretching 123km and 109km and the first would be given priority.
The first section starting from Dau Giay T-Junction in Dong Nai Province to Provincial Road 725 in Lam Dong province will be constructed under Build-Transfer format with a VND4,468 billion budget.
The upgrade will affect 216 hectares of land including 184 hectares of arable land. The first section is projected to be complete by 2014.
The second section from Provincial Road 725 to the intersection with National Highway 27 has total pledged capital of VND3,059 billion.
Work operations have been assigned to Cuu Long Corporation for Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (Cuu Long CIPM), Western Mekong Co. Ltd, PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corp. No.1 and Building Materials Corporation No.1 by the Government.
The total cost for all these road upgrading operations is VND7,648 billion, or some US$370 million, including VND879 billion for site clearance works, VND24.7 billion for project management costs, VND148 billion for engineering consultancy services and the remainder for building costs.
National Highway 20 intersects National Highway 1A at Dau Giay junction in Dong Nai Province’s Thong Nhat District. It is an arterial road linking the two provinces of Dong Nai and Lam Dong.