The People's Committee of the mountainous Lao Cai province has approved a plan to build a link road from Noi Bai – Lao Cai Highway to Sapa district, officials said last week.

Chairman of the committee Doan Van Huong asked relevant units and locals to complete the necessary procedures to start the construction work soon, an official said.

The 27 km-long link road is expected to be constructed with technological standards suitable to mountainous areas.

According to the plan, the entire route will have nine bridges, including five viaducts, and four flyovers over streams.

About 275 households will be shifted from 104 ha that will be used to build the road.

The total investment under a BOT model (build-operate-transfer) is expected more than 2.5 trillion VND (116.6 million USD).

The payback period of the project is expected to be 24 years and eight months via toll collection.

The construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of next year.

The provincial chairman has asked the transport department to quickly assess and submit the project to the committee for approval to issue a tender.

The construction units have been asked to work closely with relevant sectors and local agencies to complete the project on schedule, Chairman Huong said.

The transport and construction sectors will work together to deal with issues of environment and tourism impact, compensation, land clearance as well as resettlement.-VNA