The HCMC-Moc Bai expressway is set to start construction by 2021, and slated for completion by 2025.
The highway, which is being implemented under a public-private partnership, following the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format having state budget support, will connect the city with Moc Bai International Border Gate in the southern province of Tay Ninh.
The two localities will set aside VND10,688 billion (some US$465 million) to build the expressway, which has a total length of 53.5 kilometers with four lanes and will be completed in two phases.
The first phase will involve the construction of two separate sections of the highway. The first will be a 33km section from Ho Chi Minh City to Tay Ninh province’s Trang Bang district, which will have four lanes, with a maximum speed of 120km per hour for vehicles.
The second section from Trang Bang to Moc Bai will be 20.5km long and have four lanes with a designed speed of 80km per hour. After the two sections are completed, the second phase of construction will expand the expressway from six to eight lanes.
The expressway’s entrance is to be at Ring road 3 in HCMC’s outlying district of Cu Chi, and the exit is linked to National Road 22 leading to the border gate economic zone of Moc Bai in Tay Ninh Province.
The Project Management Unit 2 under the Ministry of Transport conducted the feasibility study over the expressway project in 2017-2019. Then the Government transferred it to the HCMC government to call for investment.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, HCMC Vice Chairman Vo Van Hoan said the expressway project would use a very quick procedure, at just six months to receive final approval from the Government. Also, only 15 days after receiving approval from the Government the two localities drew up a plan to carry out the project.
As planned, the project will be submitted to the People’s Councils of the two localities for investment approval by the end of this year, before presenting its feasibility study for appraisal by September 2020.
From 2021, both localities will carry out site clearance for resettlement, and then they will sign contracts with construction companies to build the expressway within four years.
Hoan said the gateway of HCMC-Tay Ninh is overloaded, with traffic and goods increasing by 8% every year. Building the HCMC-Moc Bai expressway will help ease traffic on National Road 22, as well as tap economic growth.
The Ho Chi Minh City – Moc Bai Highway project will meet the transport demands of the region and fit with the national highway network plan.
In particular, the highway will shorten the time it takes to travel from Ho Chi Minh City to the international border gate, and strengthen the connection between Vietnam’s key southern economic zones and the East-West economic corridor, including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Also, it will create conditions for economic development in the region, especially at the border gate economic zone of Moc Bai, saving time for traffic and reducing transportation costs of goods from HCMC to Moc Bai.
