An official report from the Ministry of Construction showed the average length of motorways in Vietnam are less than 100 km; however, their costs are much higher than comparable roads in China, Europe and Africa.
Phap Van-Cau Gie Expressway
Investment unit costs for four-lane motorways are 1.4 times higher than in China, while Vietnam’s six-lane highway investments are 1.74 times higher than China.
Investment unit costs for Vietnam’s six-lane motorways are 1.63 times higher than that of European countries such as Germany, Portugal and Hungary.
The ministry has completed the report on investment unit costs for motorways for submission to the Prime Minister. In the report, the ministry proposes an average investment unit cost of 4-lane highways of USD15.91 million per km.
The investment for the delta regions is USD16.63 million/km, while the figure for the midland and central regions is USD9.42 million/km and USD10.56 million/km respectively.
This is the first official report on the investment unit costs for motorways in Vietnam based on figures sourced by the Ministry of Transport. Earlier, reports of the similar kind were often based on assessments by contractors and real construction conditions.
Vietnam’s highest investment unit costs were on the Trung Luong-My Thuan, My Thuan-Can Tho and Long Thanh-Dau Giay roads at USD17-22 million/km; and the Ben Luc-Long Thanh route at USD37 million/km.
According to the Ministry of Construction, most Vietnamese highways run for less than 100 km, however, they include overpasses, lighting and slip roads.
The higher costs have been attributed to difficult terrain and geological conditions. Meanwhile, slow site clearance has also increased investments.
