A massive budget for highway construction and upgrading is being set in place by the Vietnamese authorities. In all some US$18.73 billion is being set aside for the construction and development of Vietnam's expressway system. The highway projects in the south covers seven routes and will total some 98 km in all. The seven routes include Can Tho-Ca Mau, Ha Tien-Rach Gia-Bac Lieu, Chau Doc-Can Tho-Soc Trang, Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai, Ho Chi Minh City-Thu Dau Mot-Chon Thanh, Dau Giay-Da Lat and Bien Hoa-Vung Tau. Meanwhile construction work is starting shortly on the southern coastal trade corridor, which will form part of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Southern Coastal Corridor (GMS-SCC). The SCC will run for 220km, beginning at the cut between Cambodia's border of Xa Xia and the Ha Tien bypass. It will cut through the provinces of Ca Mau and Kien Giang, connect with National Highways 63, 61 and 80, until Nan Can town in Ca Mau province.
The highway between the cities of Rach Gia and Ca Mau, which include a bypass around Rach Gia, will be constructed in the first phase of the project and it is scheduled for completion in 2013. The second phase involves the extension of the upgraded highway to the new gas-electricity-fertiliser complex and to Nam Can in the south through the U Minh Forest from Ca Mau city. The second phase also includes the upgrading of the road northwest from Rach Gia city to the border, and then connected to upgraded Cambodian highways to Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and beyond to Thailand. The SCC project is worth $500 million and will benefit from a loan worth $75 million loan from the943 Asian Development Bank, a $25.5 million loan from the government of Australia, and a $133 million loan from the South Korean Government, through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund.
The highway between the cities of Rach Gia and Ca Mau, which include a bypass around Rach Gia, will be constructed in the first phase of the project and it is scheduled for completion in 2013. The second phase involves the extension of the upgraded highway to the new gas-electricity-fertiliser complex and to Nam Can in the south through the U Minh Forest from Ca Mau city. The second phase also includes the upgrading of the road northwest from Rach Gia city to the border, and then connected to upgraded Cambodian highways to Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and beyond to Thailand. The SCC project is worth $500 million and will benefit from a loan worth $75 million loan from the
