In just the first two months of 2025, Moc Chau town (Son La province) welcomed about 1 million tourists with estimated revenue of 1,300 billion VND. Attractive destinations chosen by tourists are Hang Tau, Hang Doi, Vat Hong Pagoda, Dai Yem Waterfall, Na Ka plum valley...

Along the roads leading to the plum valleys, many tourist convoys stretch for kilometers. Some main routes such as the road to Ang village, Tan Lap commune, and the road to Long Sap border gate are all congested during rush hour.

Especially on National Highway 6 - the route connecting the Northwestern provinces with the capital Hanoi; traffic congestion and overload are always present. With a length of over 420 km, this is a vital road not only in tourism development but also plays an important role in socio-economic development with thousands of vehicles participating in traffic every day.

Despite investment in upgrading and renovation, National Highway 6 is considered a “tight shirt” when the demand for trade and travel increases too much. Along with the rugged terrain, long steep passes are always a big challenge for drivers; many traffic accidents with serious consequences have occurred.

Many truck drivers transporting agricultural products from the Northwestern provinces to Hanoi for consumption, when asked, all shared that the Northwestern mountain passes, especially National Highway 6, are always fraught with danger and risk. At the beginning and end of the year, when the weather is foggy, the road surface is slippery, or during the rainy season with the risk of landslides, the risks are even greater. Just a little carelessness can cost a driver dearly. If there is an expressway to replace National Highway 6, people's travel will be much more convenient and also contribute to ensuring traffic safety...

The arterial highway awakens the potential of the whole region

According to Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Tam, the Northern Midlands and Mountains region is facing many difficulties and challenges. Although the region's economy has grown quite well, its economic scale is still small, accounting for only 8% of the country's total, and 13/14 localities in the region have not yet balanced their budget revenues and expenditures.

Transport infrastructure is still a bottleneck in the region, not yet connected to the capital region, to seaports, and railways are not yet connected to China and internationally.

The investment in the construction of the Hanoi - Hoa Binh - Moc Chau expressway will be an extremely vital regional connection route of the Northwest region to break the monopoly of National Highway 6. Thereby creating a development space connecting with the capital Hanoi, creating a premise to continue implementing the entire expressway connecting Tay Trang Border Gate, Dien Bien according to the plan.

The Hanoi - Hoa Binh - Moc Chau expressway is currently being implemented under 4 independent projects. The total preliminary investment of the entire route is about 33,000 billion VND, of which the state budget is expected to allocate 24,000 billion VND and assigned to the two localities of Hoa Binh and Son La to implement.

At the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hoa Binh - Moc Chau expressway (section Km19+00 - Km53+00), the leaders of Hoa Binh province emphasized that the Hoa Binh - Moc Chau expressway project is of utmost importance for the socio-economic development of the Northwestern provinces in general and Hoa Binh province in particular.

Creating the premise to complete the CT.03 expressway (Hoa Binh - Son La - Dien Bien) according to the Road Traffic Network Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050 approved by the Prime Minister. Forming inter-regional traffic routes between Son La, the Northwestern provinces - Hanoi, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, and the northern mountainous provinces.

From there, the exploitation capacity of the entire inter-regional transport network will be promoted, reducing the load on National Highway 6. In addition, the project will create conditions to exploit the potential and strengths of tourism and service development in Hoa Binh and Son La provinces.

After completing the project, the distance from Hanoi to Van Ho, Moc Chau will be reduced to only about 2.5 hours instead of 6 hours as before, contributing to ensuring traffic safety.