'Most expensive road on the planet' to be kicked off in fourth quarter

The construction of Hoang Cau-Voi Phuc Road, which is to be “the most expensive road on the planet,” will be kicked off in the fourth quarter of this year.

The Hanoi Management Board of Investment, Construction Projects on Cultural, Social Works will start the construction of the Hoang Cau-Voi Phuc stretch of Belt Road 1 with the total investment capital of VND7.8 trillion. The investment capital will come from Hanoi’s budget and other legal capital sources.

The 50-metre wide, 2.2km stretch of road from the Cat Linh-La Thanh-Yen Lang crossroads to Voi Phuc crossroads will have a construction area of more than 150,000sq.m, including two flyovers, one crossing the Hoang Cau-Voi Phuc and Giang Vo-Lang Ha crossroads and the other crossing the Hoang Cau-Voi Phuc and Nguyen Chi Thanh intersection.

With the total investment capital of nearly VND7.8 trillion ($343.47 million) for a 2.2-kilometre road section, the average expenditure of Hoang Cau-Voi Phuc road will be VND3.42 trillion ($150.59 million) per kilometre, triple the construction expenditure of Kim Lien-O Cho Dua Road and 2.4 times the expenditure of O Cho Dua-Hoang Cau Road.

The first record was made in 2006, with the 1.1-kilometre Kim Lien-O Cho Dua Road, which cost VND700 million ($35,000) per metre. Up to 81 per cent of the total investment was spent on land compensation, as more than 1,000 households needed to be relocated from nearly 56,000sq.m of land.

In 2012, the 547-metre O Cho Dua-Hoang Cau section broke the record with the cost of VND1.4 billion ($61.65 million) per metre. In 2015, the Hoang Cau-Lang Ha road section set a new record with about VND2.5 billion ($110.1 million).

Belt Road 1 runs through Cau Giay, Tay Ho, Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Hai Ba Trung, and Dong Da districts from Nhat Tan Bridge through Nguyen Khoai, Tran Khat Chan, Dai Co Viet, Xa Dan, La Thanh, Buoi, and Lac Long Quan roads. It has O Dong Mac and O Cau Den flyovers and Kim Lien underpass.

So far the expansion of Belt Road 1 on Nguyen Khoai, Tran Khat Chan, Dai Co Viet, Xa Dan, O Cho Dua streets has been completed.