The First Province in Vietnam to Build Its Own Highway Connecting 3 Airports and the “500 Days and Nights” Miracle

Fast Construction of Highways, Beautiful and Modern in Vietnam

Quang Ninh currently has 2 major highways, the Halong – Van Don and Van Don – Mong Cai highways. These two highways have increased the total length of highways in Quang Ninh to nearly 180km, connecting the economic centers of Halong, Van Don, Mong Cai, and dozens of industrial zones, economic zones in the province.

What’s special is that both of these highways are locally funded and implemented.

Regarding the Van Don – Mong Cai highway, according to the electronic information portal of Quang Ninh province, the project with a total investment capital of about 14,000 billion VND has been officially opened for nearly 2 years. The highway was constructed within more than 500 days from when the land clearance was completed.

The total length of the route is over 80km, with a design speed of 120km/h, consisting of 4 motorized lanes and 2 emergency stopping lanes.

The highway has reduced travel time from Hanoi to Mong Cai to just 3 hours, opening up new development opportunities for Quang Ninh and the entire Red River Delta region.

The Van Don – Mong Cai highway is synchronized with the Van Don – Halong – Hai Phong – Hanoi – Lao Cai highway, forming the longest highway in Vietnam with nearly 600km. As a result, Quang Ninh has become the province with the longest highway length in the country with 176km, accounting for 18% of the total length of highways in the country.

This is also the only highway in Vietnam that connects 3 airports (Noi Bai – Cat Bi – Van Don) and 3 economic zones with 1 international border gate.

According to the Government’s electronic information portal, this longest connecting highway in Vietnam is making Quang Ninh become an increasingly strategic transit point in the Northeast Asia – Southeast Asia area, ASEAN – China, the “two corridors, one belt economic zone” cooperation between Vietnam and China, and expanded cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin region. From there, the highway will create a strong impetus to promote regional connectivity of the Red River Delta Economic Zone and the Hong River Delta region.

In addition, many people and tourists are also impressed by the fact that this is the most modern and beautiful highway in Vietnam with well-preserved natural scenery, harmonious combination of forests and the sea.

Mr. Le Hong Thanh, a resident of Ha Long city, shared with a reporter of Quang Ninh newspaper that: Traveling on the Van Don – Mong Cai highway gives a very peaceful feeling. The new highway, smooth road surface, beautiful scenery make the journey from Ha Long to Mong Cai very fast. Compared to the previous time when it took more than 3 hours to travel on narrow and winding National Road 18 to Mong Cai, now the travel time is only 1/3.

Many Miracles on the Van Don – Mong Cai Highway

In a short period of time, from a province that had almost nothing in terms of highways, Quang Ninh has become a province with the longest highways in the country. What is the secret behind this miracle?

To serve the construction of the Van Don – Mong Cai highway, in just 15 days, Quang Ninh completed the land clearance work of the project, reclaiming nearly 190 hectares of land involving nearly 1,200 households. This is a record in terms of land clearance time in the province up to now.

Right after completing the land clearance, Quang Ninh continued to launch the “500 days and nights” campaign to complete the Van Don – Mong Cai highway, starting from August 2020.

The deployment process of the Van Don – Mong Cai highway project faced many difficulties due to a large construction volume in complicated geological and hydrological conditions, continuously changing construction terrain, and a large project volume: Nearly 15 million m3 of earth and rock, construction of 35 bridges on the main route with a total length of 7.9km, 4 junctions, 3 overpass junctions (of which the Van Tien bridge is a sea overpass, with the longest length in the province at 1,515m, setting a new record for the construction progress within 11 months), 17 overpasses, 47 underground tunnels, 291 culverts of all kinds…

The contractors had to mobilize the most advanced and modern machinery and equipment, requiring high precision, with over 1,000 machines and equipment.

The project had to mobilize nearly 3,000 top engineers with experience and deep training together with a skilled workforce to ensure construction quality, labor safety, and aesthetics of the project with the most effective construction solutions.

This miracle also comes from the breakthrough in the mechanism of “using public investment to lead private investment, public investment – private management” and “private investment – public use according to the PPP method” applied closely to practice and creativity. The important point of this mechanism lies in Quang Ninh’s use of a budgetary amount as “seed capital” to lead other sources of funding with a harmonious spirit of interests and risk sharing.

Specifically, in the Van Don – Mong Cai highway project, the investors contributed money to build 63.5km, and the provincial budget invested in 16.7km.

Sharing with the press, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics, assessed that Quang Ninh province has stepped out of the old-fashioned thinking, clinging to the state budget when building highways. To attract investment capital into transportation infrastructure, the leaders of Quang Ninh province changed their thinking and hired reputable foreign consulting firms to develop seven strategic plans with the motto “with good planning, there will be good projects, with good projects, there will be investors.” The reality shows that with modern and harmonious planning and a new, flexible mechanism, many investors have come and accompanied the province.

Quang Ninh will build 2 more highways by 2030

According to statistics, since it was put into operation until now, the Van Don – Mong Cai highway has attracted a large number of vehicles with more than 5,000 vehicles/day, ensuring safe and smooth traffic.

When the final piece is completed, the scenario of having breakfast in Hanoi, wandering by the sea in Tra Co at noon, shopping at the Mong Cai border gate in the afternoon, and sleeping in Ha Long has become a reality. From this highway, access to resorts, industrial zones, and coastal economic zones such as Quang Yen and Van Don has been opened, attracting many well-known investors.

From the practical experience and achievements, Quang Ninh will build 2 new planned highways, namely the Noi Bai – Bac Ninh – Ha Long highway (CT 09) and the Tien Yen – Lang Son – Cao Bang highway (CT 10) according to the Quang Ninh province’s plan for the period of 2021 – 2030, with a vision until 2050 and the national highway network plan approved by the Prime Minister.

Specifically, CT 09 is a route connecting Ha Long city to Noi Bai airport (Hanoi) with a length of 146 km. The section across Quang Ninh province is about 57 km long, starting from the Hai Duong – Quang Ninh border (Dong Trieu town), and ending at the Van Don – Ha Long highway in Son Duong commune, Ha Long city. According to the roadmap for the period of 2021 – 2030, the Noi Bai – Bac Ninh – Ha Long highway will be constructed with a design speed of 100-120 km/h and a scale of 4 lanes in the section through Quang Ninh province. The development after 2030 will be based on actual needs.

As for the CT 10 highway, it starts from the Van Don – Mong Cai highway, Tien Yen; the end point in Quang Ninh province is in Dien Xa commune, Tien Yen district (the border between Quang Ninh and Lang Son). The section of the CT 10 highway through Quang Ninh province is about 25 km long. In the period of 2021 – 2030, the 4-lane section of this route will be under the management of functional units. After 2030, the section through Quang Ninh province will be constructed with a design speed of 100-120 km/h and a scale of 4 lanes.