Over 4.4 billion USD needed to build the Ring Road 4 -HCM City 

(ĐN) -Since September 2011, the Prime Minister has approved the detailed planning of Ring Road 4 - Ho Chi Minh City (Ring Road 4) with a length of 197.6 km. This road will pass through 5 provinces and cities: Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Long An, with 6-8 lanes of expressway, a design speed of 100 km/h, with parallel roads on both sides and corridors for planting greenery and technical infrastructure works. However, more than 10 years have passed, and the Ring Road 4 Project - Ho Chi Minh City is still just on paper. 

At the beginning of September 2021, the Prime Minister approved the Road Network Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, in which Ring Road 4 is the expressway ring road within the national road network planning, with a scale of 8 lanes, to be invested before 2030. Thus, the remaining time to complete the procedures and construct the Ring Road 4 is nearly 6 years. Currently, the Ring Road 4 Project is in the process of evaluating the prefeasibility study report. According to the prefeasibility study reports from localities, the total length of Ring Road 4 is more than 206.8 km, of which the section through Ba Ria - Vung Tau is 18.7 km, Dong Nai 45.6 km, Binh Duong 47.45 km, Ho Chi Minh City 17.3 km, and Long An 78.3 km. The total investment for Phase 1 of Ring Road 4 is estimated at more than 4.4 billion USD (over 112.77 trillion VND). 

After the 5 localities complete clarifications on the content that ministries and sectors need regarding the project, the Ministry of Planning and Investment will finalize the evaluation of the project's prefeasibility study report to report to the Prime Minister for submission to the National Assembly for consideration and decision on the investment policy of the project. Therefore, for the Ring Road 4 Project to be implemented as planned, the procedures must be expedited. In addition, localities are concerned that the total investment capital of the project is too large and requires central government support. 

When completed, Ring Road 4 will be a strategic transport axis connecting the Southeast region with the Southwest region and the Central Highlands, opening up new development opportunities for industry, logistics, urban areas, commerce, services, and tourism of the Southern economic hub of Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau) and neighboring areas. Investment in connecting transport infrastructure in the Southeast and surrounding areas is also one of the important solutions to promote the GRDP growth of the economic hub. 

There are 3 main issues that require the National Assembly and the Government to swiftly have suitable mechanisms and policies to implement the Ring Road 4 Project to complete before 2030, which are quickly resolving administrative procedure documents, providing capital support, and compensating for land clearance. 

Khanh Minh