CII Bridges and Roads Investments Joint Stock Co. (CII B&R), an affiliate of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) in Vietnam, expects to break ground by September on the $1.53 billion expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong – My Thuan Expressway.
“Although these types of projects are typically subject to competitive bidding, the government has chosen to accelerate progress and appoints CII directly as the investor,” Le Trung Hieu, director of capital management at CII, said during a recent roundtable interview.
The expansion will cover approximately 96 kilometers (about 60 miles) of expressway, linking Ho Chi Minh City to My Thuan via Trung Luong. It will also include additional work on the segment north of the My Thuan 2 Bridge in Tien Giang Province.
CII said the majority of the project’s capital expenditure will be disbursed from 2026 to 2028, with this year’s allocation primarily funding site preparation and initial work.
“We don’t need a lot of capex this year — just enough to kickstart the project,” Hieu said.
The project has faced delays due to right-of-way challenges and coordination difficulties between district governments.
However, progress has picked up following Vietnam’s administrative reform, which merged several provinces to streamline governance.
Ho Chi Minh City, for example, will merge with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau to form a larger administrative unit, potentially easing inter-jurisdictional coordination.
The expansion project, categorized as a Group A special-level road transport facility, includes an estimated ₫23.5 trillion in construction and equipment costs, ₫4.4 trillion for land clearance, and ₫4.8 trillion in loan interest during construction.
CII is financing the project through a capital structure composed of 15 percent equity and 85 percent loans, with an average loan interest rate of 10.75 percent per year.
MPTC’s involvement in CII is part of its broader regional strategy, which includes toll road investments in Indonesia and Vietnam.
