CII Wins Lam Dong Approval for VND 20,000B Ho Tram–Phan Thiet Coastal Road

Overview

Lam Dong province has approved a consortium led by Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII, HOSE) to prepare a project proposal for a 34 km coastal road connecting Ho Tram and Phan Thiet, with preliminary investment of about VND 20,000 billion (roughly USD 800 million). The approval is a procedural step rather than a construction award, but it positions CII at the front of a corridor that would complete the missing coastal link between Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Tram and Phan Thiet.

Key Facts

• Lam Dong People’s Committee issued its approval document on 23 September, giving the consortium four months to complete and submit the proposal to the Project Management Board for Construction Investment No. 2.
• The consortium comprises CII, CII PPP Company Limited and IMIC Infrastructure Construction JSC.
• The proposed route is approximately 34 km long, with 6-8 lanes and a design speed of 60-80 km/h.
• Total preliminary investment is about VND 20,000 billion, of which roughly VND 17,000 billion is expected to be bank loans.
• The consortium proposes about 500 hectares of land along the route as payment under a build-transfer (BT) contract within a PPP framework.
• The alignment has two sections: about 18 km from the Ly Thai To road connection to the Phuoc Hoi - Son My boundary, and about 16 km extending to National Highway 55 near the Ho Chi Minh City boundary.
• Preliminary schedule targets legal procedures in late 2026-2027, construction start from early 2028 and about 24 months of building.

What Happened

The consortium reported its preliminary research plan to the Lam Dong provincial government on 21 August. Under that plan, the road would complete the missing segment between Ho Tram and Phan Thiet: from Ho Tram, the coastal route is already being invested up to the Lam Dong boundary, while from Phan Thiet the coastal road already reaches Mui Ke Ga, with the section from Mui Ke Ga to the Ngo Duc Ton - Ly Thai To interchange also under investment. The 34 km proposal is therefore the connecting piece intended to form a continuous coastal transport corridor from Ho Chi Minh City through Ho Tram and southern Lam Dong to Phan Thiet.

In its 23 September document, Lam Dong assigned the Project Management Board for Construction Investment No. 2 to coordinate with the investor and local authorities to review and finalise related master plans. The consortium bears all costs and risks during proposal preparation, and the state budget will not reimburse those costs if competent authorities do not approve the investment policy. Some sections may be studied further offshore, potentially creating additional sea-reclamation space, with the final alignment to be reviewed during proposal preparation.

Market Context

CII shares closed at 12,900 on 23 September 2026 on HOSE. The stock sits in the construction and materials sector, where sentiment has been shaped by the pace of public infrastructure disbursement and by the financing capacity of build-transfer and PPP developers. The Ho Tram - Phan Thiet corridor overlaps with Lam Dong’s coastal and tourism real estate belt, an area where CII already has toll-road and property exposure. The proposal stage carries no revenue or earnings impact; the market relevance lies in the option value of a large pipeline project and in the land-payment mechanism, which ties the project’s economics to provincial land policy.

Strategic Significance

For long-term investors, the proposal matters less as a near-term earnings event than as a signal about CII’s project pipeline and its preferred financing model. The structure leans on roughly VND 17,000 billion of bank debt and about 500 hectares of land in lieu of cash payment, which shifts the return profile toward land monetisation and execution timing rather than straightforward construction margins. Completing the Ho Tram - Phan Thiet link would extend CII’s coastal corridor footprint and could raise the value of adjacent land holdings, but the four-month filing window, the master-plan reviews and the state’s explicit refusal to reimburse proposal costs mean the project remains at an early, unapproved stage.

What to Watch

• Submission of the full proposal to the Project Management Board for Construction Investment No. 2 within the four-month window from 23 September 2026.
• Lam Dong’s approval or rejection of the investment policy, which determines whether the consortium’s proposal costs are recoverable.
• Details of the land-payment mechanism, including the location and valuation of the roughly 500 hectares proposed along the route.
• Progress on related master plans and any decision to shift sections offshore or add sea-reclamation space.
• CII’s quarterly disclosures on project pipeline, debt funding and any syndication of the expected VND 17,000 billion bank loan.