Fast-paced expansion of the North-South Expressway in the East

The eastern sections of the North-South Expressway will be expanded to 6 lanes.

fierce pursuit

Determination can be seen in the investment proposal to expand the North-South Expressway in the East under the PPP method that Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company sent to the Prime Minister in the middle of last week.

Previously, within the past 4 months alone, Deo Ca Group had 3 documents proposing to study and invest in upgrading the North-South expressway in the East to a planned scale of 6 lanes with proposals that were assessed as serious and methodical.

In the latest document, Deo Ca Group stated that the Government's determination to invest in expanding the entire North-South expressway in the East under the PPP method is the concretization of the implementation of Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW, dated May 4, 2025 of the Politburo on developing the private economy by participating in key national infrastructure investment projects.

“To concretize the above policy, previously, Deo Ca Group and a number of partners reported to the Government, the Ministry of Construction , and the Ministry of Finance on the investment plan to expand the entire North-South expressway in the East and requested to be assigned to prepare an investment proposal for this project under the PPP method,” said Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy, General Director of Deo Ca Group.

According to a representative of Deo Ca Group, in the previous phase, only 3 out of 18 component projects of the North-South Eastern Expressway were implemented under the PPP method.

In the 3 component projects invested under the PPP method, Deo Ca Group and Son Hai Group are investors of 2 projects (Nha Trang - Cam Lam 49 km long and Cam Lam - Vinh Hao 78 km long), ensuring progress and quality.

“Up to now, the policy of prioritizing private enterprises to participate in key projects has been clearly defined in Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW and the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha in Document No. 323/TB-VPCP dated June 26, 2025 on selecting optimal and feasible options with specific criteria on PPP investment experience, reputation for quality and efficiency, reputation for technical capacity and capital mobilization ability,” Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy informed.

It is known that the implementation of the expansion of the North-South expressway in the East under the PPP method continues to become clearer with the direction of the Prime Minister in Official Dispatch No. 7370/VPCP-CN, dated August 8, 2025.

In this document, the head of the Government assigned the Ministry of Construction to carefully study the plan to divide the route sections, ensuring scientific and practical basis (possibly 5 to 6 sections so that investors have enough capacity); propose 1 investor to implement. If necessary, propose mechanisms and policies, and submit to the National Assembly at the October 2025 session.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy said that Deo Ca Group and a number of enterprises (such as Son Hai Group) have carefully studied investment options to expand the North-South expressway under the PPP method with the goal of completing it before 2030, being able to collect tolls according to the Toll Collection Project for expressways invested by the State and saving the maximum state budget right from the project preparation stage.

On the basis of Article 26 of the PPP Law (amended and supplemented by the Road Law, Law No. 57/2024/QH15 and Law No. 90/2025/QH15) and Article 26, Article 27 of Decree 243/2025/ND-CP, dated September 11, 2025 detailing a number of articles of the Law on Investment under the PPP method, as well as the results of preliminary research, Deo Ca Group - representing a number of enterprises, proposed that the Government assign the Group to prepare a proposal for the Investment Project to build and expand the North-South expressway in the East, from Quang Ngai to Dau Giay.

This project will include 9 component projects (including 2 PPP component projects in operation with Deo Ca Group and Son Hai Group as investors) with a scale of 6 lanes, total length of 678 km.

It is estimated that the total investment for the expansion of 9 components of the North-South Expressway in the East proposed by Deo Ca Group is about VND88,519 billion, of which the investor's equity is VND13,277.92 billion; loans and other mobilized capital is VND75,241.56 billion.

With the loan interest rate during the construction and operation period of 10.5%/year; the profit rate for investors is 11.77%/year; the weighted average cost of capital - WACC is 10.71%/year; the ticket price is equivalent to the price of the North - South Eastern Expressway projects in the period of 2017-2020, Deo Ca Group estimates that this project will recover its capital within 20 years and 3 months; the expected investment period is from 2026 - 2028.

“During the detailed research process to prepare the project proposal, Deo Ca Group will research and propose suitable investment options, including BOT contract options and O&M contract options combined with BOT, to ensure the highest economic and technical efficiency and ability to mobilize socialized capital,” said a representative of Deo Ca Group.

Consider dividing the project

It should be added that the investment plan of Deo Ca Group is quite close to the proposed investment plan to expand the eastern sections of the North-South Expressway reported by the Ministry of Construction to the Government Standing Committee on September 10, 2025.

Because the plan to expand to 6 lanes immediately has more advantages than the plan to expand to 4 complete lanes, in case of investment, the Ministry of Construction recommends immediately expanding to 6 lanes according to the plan.

To meet transportation needs and facilitate investment implementation, in the immediate future, the Ministry of Construction recommends only considering investment within the scope of the North-South Expressway in the East, Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City section (including 18 sections/component projects), with an investment length of about 1,144 km, with a total investment of about 152,102 billion VND.

Regarding the plan to divide the routes, the Ministry of Construction said that according to the research results, the Northern region (Mai Son - National Highway 45 - Nghi Son - Dien Chau) and Southern region (Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet - Dau Giay) have high financial efficiency, while the Central region sections have low financial efficiency and need state capital support.

For the 3 sections currently operating under BOT (Dien Chau - Bai Vot, Nha Trang - Cam Lam, Cam Lam - Vinh Hao, total length 178 km, preliminary total investment of about 25,343 billion VND), recently, the Ministry of Construction has worked with investors. Due to low attractiveness, investors proposed that the expansion needs state capital support.

“According to the provisions of the Road Law, to continue to expand these sections under the BOT form, the Ministry of Construction will continue to negotiate with existing investors. If necessary, it can study the combination of these sections with the remaining sections to increase the financial attractiveness of the project,” said Mr. Bui Xuan Dung, Deputy Minister of Construction.

For 15 sections that have been and are being invested in by public funds (length 966 km, preliminary total investment of 126,758 billion VND), the Ministry of Construction has studied options for dividing the number of projects (divided into 1, 2 or more projects).

Preliminary surveys show that the options for dividing the number of projects have received attention from potential investors. However, dividing into fewer projects will help shorten the overall toll collection time and improve consistency in the implementation process.

At the same time, to optimize investment, operation, exploitation and maintenance costs, the Ministry of Construction assessed that the plan to divide into 2 projects (Northern region project and Southern region project) is quite suitable; convenient in the operation and exploitation process; investors can form joint ventures to implement neatly on each section.

“In the next investment preparation process, the Ministry of Construction will conduct specific research on the scope of the project to reduce the level of state capital participation, be able to mobilize investors (one investor or a consortium of investors), facilitating investment, management and exploitation. In case of need for specific mechanisms and policies, procedures will be implemented to report to competent authorities and report to the National Assembly at the October 2025 session,” the leader of the Ministry of Construction informed.

Current status of the North-South Expressway in the East

According to the plan, the North-South Eastern Expressway (CT.01) has its starting point at Huu Nghi border gate, Lang Son province; its ending point in Ca Mau province; its total length is about 2,055 km (accounting for 22% of the total length of the expressway network), with a scale of 6 to 12 lanes.

Up to now, the investment and exploitation situation on the route is as follows: 1,652 km has been put into operation; about 388 km is under construction under the Project phase 2021 - 2025 (of which 345 km will be completed by the end of 2025), the scale is mainly 4 limited lanes (17 m wide).

In addition, some sections are being invested in or are preparing to be invested in according to the scale of a complete expressway, including the sections: Cau Gie - Ninh Binh, Cao Bo - Mai Son, Cam Lo - La Son, La Son - Hoa Lien, Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh, Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan.

Thus, on the Eastern North-South Expressway, by the end of 2025, there will be about 1,222 km with a scale of 4 limited lanes, including the Huu Nghi - Chi Lang border gate section (43 km); Mai Son - Cam Lo (465 km), Quang Ngai - Phan Thiet (580 km) and My Thuan - Ca Mau (134 km).

Source: https://baodautu.vn/guong-nhanh-toc-do-mo-rong-cao-toc-bac---nam-phia-dong-d393792.html