The ceremony marking the start of work on Van Don - Mong Cai Highway in April 2019 (Photo: VNA)Quang Ninh (VNA) – The northeasterncoastal province of Quang Ninh has completed land clearance for theconstruction of Van Don – Mong Cai highway, a local official has said.
The land will be handed over to the Van DonInfrastructure Investment and Development Limited Liability Company – theinvestor of the project, according to Vu Van Hop, Chief of the Office of theNational Assembly delegation, the provincial People’s Council and People’sCommittee.
The 80.2-km highway is designed with four lanesand a maximum speed of 100 kilometres per hour for vehicles, running throughVan Don, Tien Yen, Dam Ha and Hai Ha districts and Mong Cai city, with totalinvestment of over 11.1 trillion VND (477.3 million USD).
Work on the route began in April 2019, butearlier in March 2018, Quang Ninh had begun land clearance, aiming to clear nearly527 hectares of land. A total of 326 households and 320 tombs had to berelocated to make way for the road.
The total land clearance cost was nearly 1.5trillion VND (64.5 million USD) sourced from the province’s correspondingcapital.
The compensation for land clearance wasimplemented publicly and transparently in accordance with relevant proceduresand laws, Hop said.
The Van Don – Mong Cai highway was investedunder the public-private-partnership (PPP) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)forms.
Once completed, it will connect with the HaiPhong-Ha Long and Ha Long-Van Don highways, creating the longest highway inVietnam that runs from the northwestern province of Lao Cai to Mong Cai viaHanoi and northern port city of Hai Phong.
Additionally, the Van Don – Mong Cai highwaywill serve as an important transport gateway linking Vietnam and China andcountries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), helpingconnect Vietnamese northern localities with ASEAN and China, thus creating amomentum to bolster regional connectivity.
It will also create a complete “backbone” with atotal length of nearly 200km, making it easier for the attraction of investmentto promote marine economy, socio-economic development, tourism andinternational trade through Mong Cai border gate.
The early completion of land clearance helpedspeed up the implementation of the project, which is scheduled to be put intooperation in 2021.
The completion of the Van Don – Mong Cai highwayis also expected to facilitate access to the Van Don international airport,which was put into operation in December 2018.
The airport is hoped to help Quang Ninh achieveits target of welcoming 15-16 million tourists, including 7 million foreigners,by 2020 and 30 million arrivals, including 15 million foreigners, by 2030.Therefore, local authorities have been offering many incentives to promote thelaunch of flights to the airport, the first of its kind invested by a privatebusiness in Vietnam.
The HaLong-Hai Phong Expressway was put into service in September 2018, while the HaLong-Van Don Expressway became operational in December the same year.
Besides transport infrastructure, Quang Ninh hasalso revised plans for local ports and wharves serving coal transport, thusabolishing small-scale coal wharves and storage sites along the coast of CuaLuc and Ha Long Bays as well as in Cam Pha, Dong Trieu, Uong Bi and Hoanh Bo.New specialized roads have been built for coal transport, while new modes oftransport such as railway and conveyor belts are being introduced to reducepollution.
The north-eastern province also ended thetransport of cement and clinker on Ha Long Bay, and relocated residents infloating fishing villages in the bay to new homes in Ha Phong ward, Ha Longcity, thus improving the environment in the bay, which was twice recognised byUNESCO as a world natural heritage site in 1994 and 2000.-VNA
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