Contract awarded for key Vietnamese expressway

A consortium comprising local contractor Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (Cienco 4) and Japanese company 2714 Sumitomo Mitsui will carry out construction work on Vietnam’s new Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway. This is the first package for the first phase of works on the expressway, with this tranche expected to cost in the region of US$1.6 billion. Vietnam’s Government is providing $337 million of the funding required. Some $635 million is coming in the shape of a loan from the Japan International Co-operation Agency, with another loan worth $636 million being provided by the 943 Asian Development Bank. Construction work is commencing and will be due for completion on this stage of the expressway by the close of 2014.