At the conference, Director of HCMC Department of Transport Bui Xuan Cuong said the progress of implementation of infrastructure projects as planned is still slow due to many reasons. The most important reason is the capital source for these projects. As planned, the city has 6 express highways, 03 of them are under construction including HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay, HCMC-Trung Luong, Ben Luc-Long Thanh, the rest are not granted investment policies including Bien Hoa-Vung Tau, HCMC-Thu Dau Mot-Chon Thanh, HCMC-Moc Bai (Tay Ninh province).

According to the plan, HCMC has 03 Ring Roads (Ring Road 2, 3 and 4) with a total length of 351km. However, only 54,6km of a 64km long Ring Road 2 is invested. Ring Road 3 is under study in accordance with Resolution 54/2017QH14 on piloting special development mechanisms while Ring Road 4 is in the process of seeking investment capital.

It is suggested that Ministry of Transport will organize an opinion collecting seminar on construction of Ring Road 3 with special development mechanisms and policies. It is the job of Cuu Long Corporation for Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure to coordinate with concerned parties to quickly complete investment plan for Ring Road 4 (Ben Luc-Hiep Phuoc).

Accordingly, Ministry of Transport will consider and approve a policy on research and adjustment of railway development planning from HCMC-Can Tho as well as invest inter-regional traffic roads including National Road 1A, 1K, 13, 22, 50, etc.

In addition, HCMC People’s Committee also suggests Ministry of Transport to allocate capital for expressway projects to link HCMC with provinces in the Southern key economic zone including HCMC-Moc Bai, HCMC-Chon Thanh, etc. connecting HCMC with port groups in the city’s Eastern part (Phu Huu, Tan Can, ITC)  in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh; constructing Tan Tao-Cho Dem traffic axis connecting with Tran Dai Nghia Street and Provincial Road 10B, upgrading Binh Trieu-Hoa Hung railway route, etc.

Speaking at the conference, Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said it is a goal of HCMC in the period of 2015-2020 to expand its traffic system with total length of 172 km but only 30% of them is completed by June 2018. While land for traffic projects only accounts for 8,85%, much lower than the plan of 22,3%. This bottleneck requires huge efforts of the city to develop its traffic network in the coming time.

He suggested Ministry of Transport to address traffic bottleneck in An Phu, District 2 where frequent traffic jams are causing bad impacts on HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway.

Regarding to Ring Road 3, the city will submit it to HCMC People’s Council in an extraordinary meeting in this September to ask for approval on getting an advance on investment capital from the city’s budget as well as to mobilize investment capital. Additionally, the city will invite Ministry of Transport, concerned cities and provinces to discuss how to construct the whole Ring Road 3 instead of separating it into phases.

HCM CITYWEB