According to Le Kim Thanh, director ofthe Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway project, the section is constructed at acost of 2.554 trillion VND (120 billion USD) by Posco, a Republic ofKorea contractor.
The road has four lanes allowingvehicles to travel at maximum 80 km per hour. It is expected to easepressure for Highways 2, 32 and 70, shortening the time to travel fromHanoi to Vinh Phuc.
The Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway ispart of the Kunming – Hai Phong road corridor included in thecooperation programme among the six Mekong Sub-region countries ofVietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China.
Launched in 2009 and scheduled to complete by the second quarter of2014, the highway has a total length of 245 km crossing Hanoi andnorthern provinces of Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, Yen Bai and Lao Cai.
The first phase of the project has a total investment of nearly 20trillion VND (about 1.25 billion USD), mostly from loans provided by theAsian Development Bank.-VNA