Key highland road build spurred on

Given the importance of this project, the prime minister has directed the ministries of Finance, Planning and Investment to allocate funding from government bonds during the 2016-2020 period to ensure the project is finally completed.

The project links Phú Yên with Gia Lai Province. During the rainy season villages and communes are often isolated by rivers and streams due to a lack of bridges or culverts. Children have to swim and wade across rivers and streams to get to school.

This is a difficult area, with poor households accounting for 80% of the population. Floods in 2009 took lives of 80 peoples, so people are waiting for the completion of the road.

The route also runs through the Revolutionary War Zone. Residents are mainly Ba na and Ede ethnic group, who contributed to the country's resistance war. The project should have been completed from 2011 to 2015, but was interrupted by cuts in public spending. The prime minister has said the project must be finished using government bond funding for the 2016-2020 period.

When completed, the route will link the southern central coastal region with the highlands and connect with national routes. Phu Yen's authorities hope to complete the entire route by 2019.