Accordingly, VEC proposed that the Ministry of Finance consider and submit to the Prime Minister to assign VEC as the competent agency to implement the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway expansion project.

The project starts at Km210+000 in Hanoi, connecting to the Phap Van - Cau Gie Expressway; the end point is at Km260+030 on National Highway 10, connecting Nam Dinh - Ninh Binh with a total length of 50 km.

Cau Gie Ninh Binh route.jpg
Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Expressway is proposed to be expanded to 6 lanes. Photo: N. Han

VEC proposed to expand the highway from 4 lanes to 6 lanes with a total cost of 2,113 billion VND. Of which, the state budget capital is 840 billion VND; VEC mobilized capital is 1,273 billion VND, including VEC's own capital of 270 billion VND, loan capital of 890 billion VND, and interest during construction period of 113 billion VND.

If approved by competent authorities, VEC will prepare for project investment in 2025; implement investment from 2026 to 2028, expected to start construction in the first quarter of 2026.

The Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Expressway Project Phase 1, invested by VEC, was completed and put into operation in 2012.

Since its opening, traffic volume on the route has been increasing continuously, and is now overloaded with a scale of 4 lanes and traffic jams often occur on weekends and holidays. With the current scale, the above route will not be able to meet traffic demand on the route, and will exceed its capacity.

In addition, the expansion of the Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressway also helps synchronize with adjacent North - South expressway sections in the East such as: Phap Van - Cau Gie is currently operating with 6 complete lanes and the Cao Bo - Mai Son section is preparing to expand to 6 complete lanes.