Work started on July 15 on the expansion of a section of National Highway 1A running through the central coastal province of Ninh Thuan.

The 2.1 trillion VND (98.7 million USD) work is financed by the Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

Passing through the provincial Thuan Bac and Thuan Nam districts, the section will be 37km long and 20.5m wide.

It is designed to have six lanes with a speed limit of 80 km and 60 km per hour in non-urban and densely-populated areas respectively.

Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong said once completed by 2015 the project will help ease traffic accidents and promote local economic growth.

The province will do its best to facilitate the construction work, said Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Xuan Hoa.

As the backbone of the national transport system, National Highway 1A runs through half of the provinces and cities in the country, linking Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho.-VNA