Investment of $304.3M proposed to upgrade Mekong Delta roads

One project will upgrade a 46-km section of National Highway 53 in Vinh Long and Tra Vinh provinces and construct a 23-kilometer bypass in Vinh Long’s Vung Liem District. The project will cost over VND1.8 trillion, of which the reciprocal capital is VND580 billion.

Another project to improve 77 km of National Highway 62 and build an 8-kilometer bypass through the Tan Thanh Town, Tan Thanh District in Long An Province will cost an estimated VND2.2 trillion, including a loan of VND1.5 trillion and reciprocal capital of VND705 billion.

For the 142-kilometer National Highway 91B south of the Hau River, the total investment capital will be VND1.5 trillion, of which over VND1.3 trillion will be sourced from borrowing.

The above projects are expected to shorten travel times, meet transportation demand, ensure traffic safety, complete the regional road systems and help respond to climate change in the Mekong Delta.

In addition, 16 projects worth VND94.3 trillion ($4 million) have been proposed to boost traffic connections and prevent erosion and drought in the Mekong Delta.

Among those projects are a coastal road running 415 km through seven provinces at a cost of VND43 trillion and the second phase of an embankment project worth VND4.1 trillion in Vinh Long.

The remaining projects include building new roads and canals or upgrading existing ones in the region.

The Mekong Delta, covering 40,000 square kilometers (four million hectares), or 13% of the nation’s total area, is home to 17.5 million people, or 18% of the nation’s population.

For generations, the delta, which has 1.5 million hectares of land cultivating rice, has been the rice bowl of the nation.

The region accounts for half of the nation’s rice production, 95% of rice exports, 65% of aquaculture production, and 70% of fruit output.