The Ministry of Transport has directed 12 localities through which the eastern North - South Expressway project in the second phase will pass, project management boards, and investors to speed up site clearance tasks and hand over all land this month for the second phase of construction.

The 12 localities have handed over 80 per cent of land to investors.

The ministry said construction progress remains slow and urged the project management board to review and find difficulties to identify solutions to ensure progress is on schedule.

As a part of the 2,063-km eastern North - South Expressway, running from Lang Son province, on the Chinese border, to the southernmost province of Ca Mau in the Mekong Delta, the second phase is 729 km long with total investment of nearly VND147 trillion ($6.2 billion).

Having started in 2021, construction of the second phase is expected to be completed in 2025.