In the next seven years, HCMC will build four other bridges to link Thu Thiem and the downtown area, and expand the national highways leading to the inner-city areas to meet the rising travel demand.
In the next seven years, HCMC will build four other bridges to link Thu Thiem and the downtown area, and expand the national highways leading to the inner-city areas to meet the rising travel demand.
This is specified in a decision approving revisions in the national road traffic development plan until 2020, with a vision to 2030, passed by the Government on Monday.
From now to 2020, many bridges will be built across Saigon and Dong Nai rivers, like Saigon 2, Hoa An, Thu Thiem 2, 3 and 4, and Binh Loi.
Saigon 2 Bridge is under construction and set for completion late this year. Meanwhile, the design for Thu Thiem 2 Bridge has been finished, so it is expected to get off the ground in 2014. Thu Thiem 3 and Thu Thiem 4 are under study.
In addition, National Highway 13, connecting HCMC and the neighboring provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai, and National Highway 22, linking the city with Tay Ninh, will be expanded to have 4-6 lanes each and thus meet the demand for travel between HCMC and its neighboring provinces.
Some expressways passing through HCMC like Long Thanh-Dau Giay, Dau Giay-Phan Thiet and Ben Luc-Long Thanh will be developed from now to 2020.
Long Thanh-Dau Giay with a total length of 55 kilometers is being built and will be ready in 2014. Ben Luc-Long Thanh will get going this year.
Meanwhile, Dau Giay-Phan Thiet to be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) format is having trouble with the investment mechanism, so the groundbreaking date has not been fixed.
A number of inter-provincial expressways such as Bien Hoa-Vung Tau, Nha Trang-Phan Thiet and Dau Giay-Dalat are under consideration.
The revised plan excludes Belt Road No. 4 in HCMC and HCMC-Moc Bai Expressway. Moreover, only the first phase of Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway, the six-lane section from Bien Hoa, Dong Nai to Phu My, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, will be carried out from now to 2020.
Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong has had a meeting with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) over the final report for the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway project, according to the website of the transport ministry.
At the meeting, the transport ministry asked the project consultant to clarify the section to be developed in 2020-2026, reconsider the designed vehicular speed for the Bien Hoa-Phu My section (120 kilometers per hour) and prioritize development of the section from Bien Hoa to Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port for goods transport.
(Source:VNNet)
