The final section of a highway connecting capital Hanoi and the northern border province of Lao Cai was opened for trial run on March 2.

Built at a cost of 1.6 trillion VND (76.2 million USD), the new road runs through four communes and one ward of Lao Cai province.

The 26km section is also the first part of a route running through the economic corridor of Kunming (China), Lao Cai, Hanoi and Hai Phong city. Therefore, the inauguration is said to be of importance for regional socio-economic development and security.

The road was constructed by the Vietnam Construction and Import – Export Join Stock Corporation.

The construction of the Noi Bai-Lao Cai highway started in 2009 with a total investment of over 1.2 billion USD. It has a total length of 245 kilometres.

The highway is part of a cooperation programme among six countries in the Mekong Sub-region, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China.-VNA