Expressway opens east-west bottleneck
On the morning of December 19, Gia Lai province started construction of component project 1 (in An Nhon ward) and component project 3 (in Hoi Phu ward) under the Quy Nhon - Pleiku Expressway Construction Investment project. Component project 2 is expected to start construction in March 2026. The ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung.
The project has a total length of 125km passing through 16 communes and wards. scale of 4 lanes, design speed of 100km/h, total investment of 43,734 billion VND. The project is divided into 3 component projects: component 1 (22km long, capital of VND 6,989 billion), component 2 (68km long, capital of VND 27,576 billion) and component 3 (35km long, capital of VND 9,169 billion), implemented from 2025-2029.
The project's groundbreaking is the result of serious, urgent and responsible preparation by the province, aiming to concretize the Government's policy with the goal of having about 5,000km of expressway nationwide by 2030.
The Quy Nhon - Pleiku Expressway plays an important east-west traffic axis, connecting the South Central Coast with the Central Highlands, opening up the fastest access from the plateau to the seaport and vice versa.
Currently, National Highway 19 is a vital traffic route connecting the east-west areas of the province. However, this route has many winding passes, narrow road surfaces, and a high risk of traffic accidents. The travel time from Quy Nhon to Pleiku takes about 4 hours.
When the expressway is invested in and built, travel time is expected to be shortened to about 2 hours, thereby contributing to reducing logistics costs, improving the efficiency of goods circulation and promoting socio-economic development.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Tu Cong Hoang - Vice Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee - affirmed that this is one of the national key traffic projects, of large scale, playing an important role in strengthening inter-regional connectivity, promoting socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security.
"This is the first expressway project implemented by the province. With high determination, great efforts, and development aspirations, I believe that the investor, relevant units and localities will make every effort to complete the project on time, contributing to making the province move forward firmly, entering a new era, an era of national growth", said Mr. Hoang.
AI decides national competitive advantage
On the same day, the province also started the project of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Center in Quy Nhon Tay and Quy Nhon Bac wards. The project has a scale of 11.13 hectares, a total investment of 613 billion VND, expected to be operational in 2027.
The project is considered an important step forward in the strategy for developing technology infrastructure and knowledge economy of the Central - Central Highlands region, in line with the spirit of Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in science, technology development, innovation and national digital transformation.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung said that Gia Lai is starting a new era, with " spacious land, large people, determined will, and united heart", along with a stable political and social foundation, an attractive investment environment, ... completely qualified and "new efforts" for sustainable development.
Artificial Intelligence is profoundly changing every field, becoming one of the key technology platforms, deciding success or failure in improving competitiveness and sustainable development.
"Whichever country can master this technology will have a long-term competitive advantage. The Government identifies artificial intelligence as one of the country's strategic technologies," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
The Deputy Prime Minister acknowledged and appreciated FPT Corporation's early identification of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum computing as core technologies, demonstrating its determination to invest systematically and long-term and master the technology.
"To promote the center's effectiveness, I suggest that the province focus on perfecting the foundational conditions, first of all researching, promulgating and implementing strong enough and attractive incentive policies to attract high-tech human resources, good scientists and experts. I believe that this will not only be the AI center of the province, the Central region or the whole country, but also of the whole region," the Deputy Prime Minister directed.
In addition to the above 2 projects, the province also started construction of the following projects: The road connecting National Highway 1 to the coastal road (DT639) connecting to De Gi Port, with an investment capital of 1,432 billion VND; Binh Nghi Industrial Park in Tay Son and An Nhon Tay communes, with an investment capital of 1,460 billion VND; Investing in expanding and increasing the capacity of An Khe Road Factory (phase 2) in An Khe ward, with a total capital of 1,170 billion VND; Construction of mixed-use apartments in Quy Nhon Nam ward, with a total capital of 3,508 billion VND; Point No. 2 (2-2), Nhon Ly - Cat Tien Sea Tourism Area in Nhon Hoi Economic Zone (Ngo May commune), with a total capital of 2,584 billion VND.
At the same time, the An Khe sugar factory with a capacity of 18,000 tons of sugarcane/day of Quang Ngai sugar Company in An Khe ward, with a total investment of 1,633 billion VND; and the An Khe Biomass Power Plant (phase 1), with a total investment of 1,919 billion VND.
