Mountain trail Truong Son Dong (East Truong Son) in Vietnam’s central region, part of the historic Ho Chi Minh Trail, is to be paved into a new national highway.

A ground-breaking ceremony was held in Lam Dong province this morning for the construction of the national highway named - Truong Son Dong - embracing a total length of about 700km, from Thanh My commune of Nam Giang district in central province Quang Nam and ending at Lac Duong district in Lam Dong province, 300km shy of Ho Chi Minh City.

The new highway, which was a critical pipeline for covert military transportation in the Vietnam War, will run through seven central provinces and crossing 112 bridges.

It has total investment capital of VND3.5 trillion, over US$222 million, and is scheduled to complete construction in 2010.

The route is one of the three most important national highways in Vietnam, together with the backbone national highway 1A and the Ho Chi Minh route which is also under construction.

The Truong Son Dong project is the largest-scale traffic construction in Vietnam the Ministry of Defense has ever been appointed to build.

Deputy Prime Minister as well as leaders from central and provincial agencies took part in the ground-breaking ceremony today.

(Reported by Duc Lien – Translated by Minh Phat- Thanhniennews)