At the beginning of 2026, the urgent working atmosphere returned to the construction site to upgrade National Highway 279 section passing through the old Van Ban district. Machinery and workers focused on construction throughout the Tet holiday, racing against time to compensate for the progress interrupted after storms and floods.
PV's records show that along National Highway 279 through communes in old Van Ban district, the sound of excavators, rollers, and trucks resounded continuously. Here, dozens of workers took shifts to work, leveling embankments, pouring concrete, and reinforcing the roadbed in an urgent and bustling atmosphere.
Many construction sites are organized simultaneously. At times, workers work from early morning to late at night, even overtime at night when the weather is favorable. "Taking advantage of each sunny day" is the common spirit throughout the construction site these days.
On January 4, in an exchange with Lao Dong Newspaper, a representative of Project Management Board 2 (Ministry of Construction) said that National Highway 279 is a route with complex terrain, passing through many high hilly areas, making construction difficult.
We are mobilizing more manpower and machinery to accelerate construction, ensuring traffic is not congested. At the same time, requesting contractors to organize simultaneous construction, overtime, and work during Tet holidays to keep up with the schedule," the representative said.
The National Highway 279 upgrade project is a key traffic project, of strategic significance in connecting the Northwest region with the Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway, thereby connecting with the northern mountainous provinces and international border gates.
The project is funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Australian Government, including two connecting routes with a total length of about 200km, with a total investment of more than 6,000 billion VND.
Regarding the section passing through Van Ban old district (Lao Cai province), the project is about 60km long, mainly on National Highway 279. After completion, the road is expected to contribute to promoting trade, tourism development, improving transport capacity and ensuring traffic safety for people in the area.
According to Project Management Board 2, in the old Van Ban district, 3/3 packages are being implemented simultaneously with about 30 construction bridges. The production value reached about 1,054/1,174 billion VND, equivalent to 80% of the construction value.
Site clearance work has also achieved many positive changes. Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee has drastically directed departments, branches and localities to get involved. To date, land in Bao Ha, Van Ban, Duong Quy, Minh Luong, Nam Sen communes has basically been handed over to contractors, reaching about 99%.
However, the project still has obstacles in bidding package XL-01, related to Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan's household (Tuan - Len gas station, Km8+700, Khe Lech village, Van Ban commune) who has not agreed to hand over the site.
Mr. Pham Van Huu, a resident of Van Ban commune, shared: "National Highway 279 has been built for many years but has not been completed yet. We people only hope that the road will be completed soon so that we can travel more safely and feel more secure, especially every rainy and flood season.
According to the plan, the project strives to basically complete before the Lunar New Year, opening to traffic as soon as possible. On the construction site in the first days of the year, under the mild winter sun, the red dirt strip is gradually taking shape.
The bustling engine speed blends with the workers' footsteps, signaling that a trillion-VND transportation project is approaching its destination.
