The Hai Van Tunnel officially opened to traffic on 5 June 2005.  At a cost of over 127 million USD, this was at the time the longest road tunnel in South East Asia, and one of the 30 longest in the world.

The emergency tunnel (left) next to the existing main tunnel (right)

However, overload was expected to occur in the existing tunnel by 2021 due to the growing number of vehicles running through it. 

To deal with this problem, on 26 May 2015, the Prime Minister gave the go-ahead for the deployment of a project to open a new tunnel under the Hai Van Pass in order to better cope with the burgeoning traffic flow through the existing tunnel.

The latest project involves expanding the over 6.2 km-long, 2-lane emergency tunnel, which lies parallel to the existing main tunnel, into a 4-lane tunnel, and building a new 2.1 km-long stretch of road to Thua Thien-Hue Province’s Lang Co Town, and a 4.3 km-long roadway leading to Da Nang.

The Deo Ca Investment JSC, which is now headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, is in charge of deploying the project on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.  The project is now proceeding well and it is expected to be put into operation in 2019. 

The new tunnel is being created using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), also known as the sequential excavation method, which is a popular method of modern tunnel design and construction.  This modern tunnelling technique has been successfully applied in many advanced countries across the world because it has more advantages than conventional methods.

The project’s developer, Deo Ca Investment JSC from Viet Nam, is now working closely with the Hai Van Tunnel Management and Operation JSC (Hamadeco), and the relevant agencies of Thua Thien-Hue Province and Da Nang, in a bid to effectively deploy the project whilst still ensuring the normal operation of the existing tunnel.

The General Director of the Deo Ca Investment JSC, Mr Ho Minh Hoang, remarked that the deployment of the new tunnel project is considered one of Viet Nam’s technological breakthroughs, and demonstrates its enhanced tunnelling techniques.