People in the South eagerly wait for the day the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway opens to traffic

Look forward to it every day

These days, the story of "how to drive on the highway" has almost become a familiar topic in coffee shops, in the story of the people of Ca Mau. Workers, traders, business owners or some talented people all mentioned it with excitement and pride.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam excitedly said that he was ready to "pass the highway" in his own way. "Before, we didn't have a highway in Ca Mau. After the traffic was opened, I went right away, it's been a long wait," Mr. Nam shared.

For more than ten years, seeing other provinces and cities with highways, Ca Mau people still regularly travel back and forth via National Highway 1, crowded with trucks and container trucks, sometimes taking 4-5 hours from Ca Mau to Can Tho. The opening of the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway, according to the Government's plan on December 19, has brought a very happy, exciting and somewhat restorative feeling to a land at the end of the South.

Mr. Tran Van Giau, a driver for a business in Song Doc, Ca Mau, commented: "With expressways, transportation time will be shorter. Everyone knows this. But taking the highway from my hometown to Can Tho must be a very interesting thing".

If you ask Ca Mau people if they have cars to "test" the highway in the first week of traffic, most of them will immediately nod. Not to show off, but to experience. Because this is the first time, their hometown has a true expressway: running straight, running fast, running safely and not having to avoid motorbikes and trucks like National Highway 1.

Opportunity for Ca Mau to develop

Expressways are just infrastructure. To "activate" socio-economic efficiency, Ca Mau needs to solve the next problem: taking advantage of highways to develop processing industry, logistics, eco-tourism and urbanization.

The continuation route of Ca Mau - Dat Mui Expressway is even more important. When these two routes are seamlessly connected, Ca Mau will no longer be the "end of the road" province, but will become a destination, the starting point of a new development corridor, closer to Ho Chi Minh City.

Vice Chairman of Ca Mau Provincial People's Committee Lam Van Bi said: Ca Mau will make the most of the expressway when completed for socio-economic development. The province is also planning the socio-economy to 2030 with a vision to 2050, in which it promotes infrastructure connecting from expressways to the center, industrial parks and productive regions.

Right at the end of the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway, Ca Mau section, construction units are urgently implementing the final stages. They understand that the people of Ca Mau are eagerly waiting.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, a resident of Ca Mau who is working for a construction unit here, said: In the past few days, many people have come to see it even though it is not yet the opening date. As Ca Mau people, we are very happy, very happy, and looking forward to the day when the traffic will open to climb the highway for a trip.