Deputy Prime Minister Hồ Quốc Dũng inspected the expressway’s starting point in An Nhơn Ward on February 21, the fifth day of Tet, urging teams to maintain round-the-clock progress.
Provincial Chairman Phạm Anh Tuấn reported that roughly five kilometers of land had been cleared and handed over, enabling contractors to begin work immediately. All units, he said, operated continuously through the holiday under government and provincial directives.
The expressway, considered a strategic transport corridor linking the South Central Coast with the Central Highlands, is expected to stimulate regional logistics, industry and tourism. Component project 1 alone has deployed 13 construction teams over the 22-kilometer segment.
Package XL.01 mobilized eight teams, 82 machines, 21 engineers and 94 workers for earthworks, roadbed building and bored piles for An Nhơn Bridge. Package XL.02 assigned five teams with 52 machines and 64 workers to level sites for the Sông Kôn and Hà Nhe bridges and prepare culvert components.
Mr. Hồ Quốc Dũng praised the workforce for maintaining what he called “project momentum” during Tet but instructed the province to speed up site clearance under the “clear as you go, build as you go” principle. He emphasized selecting only competent contractors, ensuring material quality and avoiding fragmented work that could compromise standards.
From the sixth day of the lunar month, construction teams will be deployed across the full route. The province targets completion of compensation and resettlement in the second quarter of 2026, finishing all preparatory work before March 31, 2026, completing component project 1 by June 2028 and opening it to traffic in July 2028.
At Phù Cát Airport, hundreds of engineers and workers also stayed on site throughout Tet to keep Runway No. 2 on schedule. Daily earthworks reached 17,000 cubic meters.
Contractors mobilized 31 excavators, 22 bulldozers, 61 rollers, five graders and about 300 trucks, with 10 teams working on K95 subgrade embankment. Three shifts and four crews operated continuously under the Project Management Board’s direction.
To date, 1.2 of 3.048 kilometers of the K95 subgrade have been completed, accounting for about 2 million cubic meters of earthworks and a realized value of 400 billion VND (approx. USD 16.1 million).
Cao Thế Tuấn, chief commander for the Vietnam Airport Construction Corporation, said teams maintained minimum but uninterrupted work over the holiday while hosting onsite New Year’s Eve celebrations and providing full pay and enhanced bonuses to keep morale high.
Project Management Board director Lưu Nhất Phong reaffirmed that work would not be allowed to fall behind schedule but stressed that “every stage is strictly controlled.” Lieutenant Colonel Nguyễn Đăng Quý of Trường Sơn Construction Corporation added that celebrating Tet at construction sites was routine, and completing the project would be “the greatest gift”.
Across both the expressway and runway projects, uninterrupted Tet operations underscored the province’s determination to prevent a post-holiday slowdown. Each meter of road and each subgrade layer completed in early spring, officials said, reflects the sustained effort of workers and the political will to deliver key infrastructure commitments.
