A map showing the proposed Biên Hòa-Vũng Tàu Expressway, whose construction is set to get under way.

HCM CITY— Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has instructed the Ministry of Transport to start construction of the Biên Hòa- Vũng Tàu Expressway in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.

The 53.7km expressway between Biên Hòa City in Đồng Nai Province and Bà Rịa City in Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province is expected to be completed and open to traffic by 2025.

Of it, 34.2 kilometres will be in Đồng Nai and the remaining 19.5km in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu.

It will start at the National Highway 1A in Biên Hòa and go up to National Highway 56 in Bà Rịa.

Initially it will have four lanes, but two more will be added before it is completed, and its estimated cost is more than VNĐ19 trillion (US$825.7 million).

It is expected to ease congestion on National Highway 51, and speed up travel between Đồng Nai, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu and HCM City and the southern key economic zone.

Nguyễn Văn Thọ, chairman of the Bà Rịa- Vũng Tàu People Committee, said the expressway would also be connected with the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay and Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressways and the Long Thanh International Airport. VNS