HCMC – Since HCMC’s master plan for traffic infrastructure development has been only 35% completed, the city will speed up work on the long-stalled projects this year and next.
Tran Quang Lam, director of the HCMC Department of Transport, said bottlenecks in site clearance and financial difficulties have hindered the execution of the city’s transport system in accordance with a master plan approved by the Government years ago. The city has only achieved 35% of its target in the master plan, Lam said.
Lam explained the lack of a mechanism to raise funds from sources outside the State budget had caused the current infrastructure’s sluggish expansion.
Regarding major works, HCMC would have six expressways connecting to other localities, five national highways, three beltways, five elevated roads, eight railways, eight metro lines, six bus rapid transit (BRT) routes and three tramways or monorails, according to the master plan approved by the Prime Minister in 2013.
However, only two of the six expressways are operational, namely HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay and HCMC-Trung Luong, while beltways Nos. 2 and 3 are still under construction.
The metro and BRT projects are gradually being implemented and the other traffic constructions are still in the planning and capital allocation stages.
Thus, the HCMC Department of Transport will continue to speed up the city’s 29 key projects, particularly the construction of the expressway and gateway projects.
Many bridge projects, including Tang Long, Ong Nhieu, Nam Ly, and Ong Bon, and Luong Dinh Cua Street, will be restarted when the site handover is completed.
In August, the Long Kieng Bridge project received 100% of the cleared land for construction after a two-decade suspension due to site clearance bottlenecks.
It will be opened to traffic by the end of 2023.
This month, HCMC will kick off three projects, namely the An Phu Intersection in Thu Duc City, a road connecting Tran Quoc Hoan and Cong Hoa streets leading to the Tan Son Nhat Airport in Tan Binh District, and the expansion of a National Highway 50 section in Binh Chanh District.
The projects will ease traffic congestion and enhance connectivity between HCMC and the neighboring provinces.
The overall cost of the city’s 29 key transportation constructions in 2022 is VND243.2 trillion, funded by the State budget and the official development assistance.
As of April, some 19 of the 29 projects had been approved.
