Attendants in the ceremony included Nguyen Tan Dung Prime Minister, Tran Duc Luong former President, Pham Binh Minh Deputy PM – Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Nguyen Van Nen Minister – Chairman of the Government Office. There were also the Minister of Transportation Dinh La Thang, Minister of Science and Technology, and other high-ranking delegates of relevant ministries and more than 40 news agencies. On the side of Quang Ninh Province, attendants are Pham Minh Chinh - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Nguyen Van Doc, Chairman of Quang Ninh People's Committee, Do Thong - Vice Chairman of the Standing, representatives of provincial agencies, representatives of Haiphong, and other neighboring provinces’ delegates and units.
At the ceremony, the Prime Minister spoke, “today, we are inaugurating the project of Halong – Haiphong Highway as well as the construction of Quang Ninh Hanoi Highway. As the Hanoi – Haiphong Highway is going to finish. Halong Highway will be connected with National Road 5B to Hanoi.” The Prime Minister praised Quang Ninh to make its best efforts in mobilizing local budgets to construct the highway, contributing to the regional and national social development. He highly appreciated the social resource mobilization in investment in infrastructure construction, contributing to social development. Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung suggested Ministy of Transportation and other relevant branches and agencies to coordinate with Japanese partner to finish Bach Dang Bridge in order to smooth Quang Ninh – Haiphong – Hanoi Highway project as soon as possible to meet the need of vehicles’ circulation and social development.
Quang Ninh is the province proposed the government for using local budget and mobilizing social resources to construct Halong Haiphong Highway. Mr. Nguyen Van Doc, the Chairman of Quang Ninh People’s Committee spoke at the ceremony, “the Halong Haiphong Highway Project is the first highway in Vietnam transportation system assigned to locality as an investor with a mobilized capital of over 6000 billion dong. Currently, the figure of mobilized capital is 2,800 billion dong. The province pledged to implement full-service funding for this project. The Quang Ninh Chairman said that the locality had established a project board and hired foreign consultants to conducts steps for the success of the project and in order to connect northern key economies including Quang Ninh, Haiphong and Hanoi, shorten the route’s length from 75km to 25km. Mr. Dinh La Thang, the Minister of Transportation highly evaluated Quang Ninh’s activeness and forcibility in investing in Halong Haiphong Highway. This project not just shortens time of traveling, but also connects Quang Ninh with Haiphong and Hanoi “closely”.
Halong Haiphong Highway has a length of 25km in total. This expressway is constructed with four lanes. The allowed speed is 100 – 110km/h. The part of highway is 19.8km long and Bach Dang Bridge is 5.45km long. The width of this highway is 25.5m. The beginning point is the place of groundbreaking ceremony (in Dai Yen ward, Halong City); the ending point is kilometer of 25+214 adjacent with Hanoi Haiphong Highway 5B (in Dong Hai 2 ward, Hai An District, Haiphong City). The highway linking Halong City with Bach Dang Birdge is constructed with the capital from Quang Ninh budget and legal mobilized capital, with the total investment of 6,400 billion dong. The Halong - Bach Dang Bridge Highway is expected to finish in 2016. Bach Dang Bridge is approved with the total investment of 7,200 billion dong. This project is constructed by SE Corporation of Japan in the form of BOT. The bridge is predicted to build and finish in 2017.
After being completed, the highway will shorten the distance between Quang Ninh and Haiphong from 70km to 25km. The connection to Haiphong Hanoi 5B National Road helps lessen the time of traveling from Halong to Hanoi (60km, 1 hour and 35 minutes). The Halong - Haiphong Highway will complete the route linking key economic triangle Hanoi - Haiphong - Quang Ninh, contributing to the improvement of transportation infrastructure in northern coastal and Red River Delta areas. It connects synchronous transport infrastructure between lines, increasing the flow of goods from Quang Ninh to other northern provinces and vice versa. At the same time, it opens up a new development not only for transportation in Quang Ninh, but also for economic development throughout the region.