Clarifying the Quy Nhon Expressway investment plan

Clarifying the investment plan for the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway worth 37,621 billion VND

Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee continues to request the Ministry of Transport to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval to allow investment in the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway in the form of public investment.

Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee has just sent an official dispatch to the Ministry of Transport regarding the completion of contents related to the investment plan for the construction of the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway.

Urgent early investment

In this dispatch, the Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee affirmed that the early investment in the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway section is consistent with the viewpoints and development solutions of Resolution 23 of the Politburo on the direction of socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in the Central Highlands region until 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Accordingly, Resolution 23 determines to focus on developing transport infrastructure in a synchronous and modern direction, connecting the whole region conveniently to seaports, domestic and international airports. By 2030, strive to complete a number of important transport infrastructures: Quy Nhon - Pleiku, Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot, Gia Nghia - Chon Thanh, Tan Phu - Bao Loc, Bao Loc - Lien Khuong expressways...

“The investment in the Quy Nhon – Pleiku expressway will improve connectivity, shorten transportation time and costs, ensure traffic safety, create a driving force for connection and spread to promote cooperation in socio-economic development of the region, especially connecting the Central Highlands with deep-water seaports, while strengthening national defense and security in the region,” said the leader of the Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee.

In addition, the above-mentioned expressway also contributes to meeting the transportation needs on the East-West axis, is an important transportation corridor serving the socio-economic development goals, connecting seaports of the Central coastal region with border gates of the Central Highlands in particular and connecting the East Sea with the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle in general, and further, the ability to connect with Thailand and Myanmar.

According to the People's Committee of Gia Lai province, due to the terrain characteristics, the transportation system connecting the North Central Highlands and the South Central region cannot develop waterway transportation, and is limited in the development of railways (especially freight railways). Only air and road transport are suitable modes of transportation.

Currently, the road traffic system in the area is mainly concentrated on two existing vertical axes: National Highway 1, National Highway 14 and the gradually forming North-South Eastern Expressway, the horizontal axis has only National Highway 19.

In the context of National Highway 19 being exploited since 1961, on the route there are 2 locations: An Khe Pass (length about 9km, height difference about more than 400m) and Mang Yang Pass (length about 5km, height difference about more than 300m) winding, dangerous with very limited curves for traffic, especially for heavy trucks, container trucks, posing potential risks to traffic safety.

Although National Highway 19 is being invested in and upgraded by the Central Highlands Transport Connectivity Enhancement Project (WB loan), the route still has many difficulties in terms of geometry, the current travel time from Quy Nhon City (Binh Dinh Province) to Pleiku City (Gia Lai Province) is about 3.5 - 4 hours.

Meanwhile, if the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway is put into operation, the travel time will be shortened to about 1.5 - 2 hours, ensuring the operational factor and improving traffic safety for motor vehicles.

Proposed public investment plan

Survey data shows that the traffic volume of the Quy Nhon - Pleiku Expressway Project is only about 60 - 75% compared to the traffic volume surveyed at the Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot Expressway Project, so investment in the form of PPP is ineffective and difficult to be feasible.

Regarding the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway route, the Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee said that the research on the route through Gia Lai province has basically been agreed upon by the Gia Lai Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee in Document No. 1001-KL/TU dated November 25, 2022 of the Gia Lai Provincial Party Committee.

During the detailed implementation process, some sections will be considered for fine-tuning to minimize impacts on residential areas, defense land and investment projects in localities serving socio-economic development in Gia Lai province.

Specifically, the route length in Gia Lai province is about 85.6 km; connecting to the end point from the route direction in Binh Dinh province at An Khe pass, the route goes completely south of National Highway 19.

The basic route complies with the approved planning, with some adjustments to ensure economic and technical factors and compliance with local planning such as: the section Km37+300 – Km64+700 will adjust the route to the North compared to the planning by 1-3 km due to controlling the location to build An Khe tunnel at about Km37+300, overcoming very difficult terrain conditions in the South, as well as increasing connectivity with DT.667 to An Khe town at Km52+300 and with Truong Son Dong road to Dak Po at Km63+200; the section from Km64+700 – Km94+700 will adjust the route to the North compared to the planning to avoid affecting the protective forest area, controlling at the Mang Yang tunnel location and ensuring connection of roads to Kon Dong town, Mang Yang district.

The route is expected to pass through the districts and towns such as: An Khe town to the South, intersecting with DT.667, Dak Po district to the South, intersecting with Truong Son Dong road; Mang Yang district, intersecting with DT.666, Dak Doa district. The end point is Km122+900, connecting with Ho Chi Minh road (National Highway 14), in Pleiku city, Gia Lai province.

Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Transport to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval to allow investment in the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway in the form of public investment, using central budget capital.

Through referring to similar highway projects, the Quy Nhon - Pleiku highway has much more complex terrain, technical factors, and construction scale.

On the route, there are 2 locations: An Khe Pass (length about 9km, height difference about 400m) and Mang Yang Pass (length about 5km, height difference about 300m); 2 tunnels: An Khe, Mang Yang with a total length of about 5km; length and height of the approach bridges are large.

Currently, project management units in the province do not have experience in managing large-scale, technically complex expressway projects. Therefore, in terms of implementation, Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee proposed the Ministry of Transport to be the project's managing agency; each provincial People's Committee coordinates in site clearance according to administrative boundaries.

Previously, in July 2024, the Gia Lai Department of Transport sent a document requesting the Ministry of Transport to consider reporting to the Prime Minister for approval to allow investment in the Quy Nhon - Pleiku expressway in the form of public investment.

This project will have its starting point at the intersection with National Highway 19B (approximately Km39+200) in Nhon My commune, An Nhon town, Binh Dinh province; its end point at the intersection with Ho Chi Minh road (National Highway 14), in Pleiku city, Gia Lai province with a total route length of 122.9 km.

Gia Lai Department of Transport proposed to invest in the Project according to the planning scale of 4 lanes, with a total estimated investment of about 37,621 billion VND. It is expected that the project will be prepared for investment from 2024-2025; basic construction will be completed before 2030.

Gia Lai Department of Transport plans to divide the Project into 3 sections. Section 1 starts from the starting point (Km0+000) to An Khe tunnel (Km39+300), 39.3km long, located entirely in Binh Dinh province. Section 2 starts from An Khe tunnel (Km39+300) to the end of Mang Yang tunnel (Km79+700), about 40km long, located entirely in Gia Lai province. Section 3 starts from Km 9 to the end of the route (Km122+900), about 43.2km long, located entirely in Gia Lai province.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/lam-ro-phuong-an-dau-tu-cao-toc-quy-nhon---pleiku-tri-gia-37621-ty-dong-d222804.html