The 55km expressway will start at the An Phu intersection in HCM City’s District 2 and go up to Station 1829+800 on National Highway 1A, 2.7 km from the Dau Giay intersection in Dong Nai Province. It will link HCM City with Dong Nai Province’s Bien Hoa City and Long Thanh, Nhon Trach, and Thong Nhat Districts.

In the first phase it will be a four-lane road with 18 bridges across rivers and will cost around VND 9.8 trillion (USD600 million). Once completed, the expressway is expected to make trading between the key economic regions of HCM City, Bien Hoa and Vung Tau cities easier.

Dung has also asked the Ministry of Transport to make a study on building a railway line between HCM City and Can Tho City using public funds.

Two highways

Completion of two highways going north-south and east-west through the city centre and the development of traffic infrastructure are among the components of a plan drawn up for 2010 by HCM City transportation authorities to deal with the city’s growing traffic and demand for cargo transport.

The East-West Corridor (Highway), which starts in Binh Chanh District in the west, passes through District 8,6,5,3 and 1 and meets the Ha Noi Highway in District 2, will be completed at the end of next year, including the Thu Thiem Tunnel under the Sai Gon River.

Several of its sections have already opened to traffic, including the road along the Tau Hu-Ben Nghe Canal and the Khanh Hoi, Cha Va and Y-shaped bridges.

The North-South Corridor connecting District 12 with Nha Be, has completed its first phase and begun the second, including works like the Rach Dia, Ba Chiem, Phuoc Kieng bridges and the road leading to the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park in Nha Be District.

The department said it realised the adverse effect the daily congestion at the city’s entry points have on economic development and was determined to speed up several works planned to ease the problem.

These areas receive huge volumes of cargo from and headed for the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta and the south-eastern region.

The main projects at the eastern gate include the expansion of the Ha Noi Highway and upgrading of the Binh Trieu Bridge No 2 and the Provincial Highway No 25B leading to the city’s busy Cat Lai Port, which handles most of the cargo destined for the city as well as neighbouring Dong Nai and Binh Duong Provinces.

On the western side, the expansion of the Provincial Road No 10 is going on together with work on the East-West Corridor. It connects the city with Long An, the closest of the 13 Mekong Delta provinces.

In the city, the plan acknowledged that expansion and upgrade of Nguyen Van Troi-Nam Ky Khoi Nghia was the most urgent task due to its significance, as it was the road leading to Tan Son Nhat Airport.

The second most urgent was the completion of sections leading to the Thu Thiem Bridge linking Binh Thanh District and District 2, including its underpass.

Vision to 2020

The plan also spells out development of traffic infrastructure through 2020, with a focus on high-tech, public transportation. They include four overhead roads to be built above roads and canals, and an underground system. Three investors are scheduled to carry out studies for the roads.

One underground line is currently under construction and expected to be ready in 2014. It will link the Ben Thanh Ward in downtown area with the Suoi Tien tourist area on the north-western outskirts.

The city is also studying the feasibility of building two other lines connecting Ben Thanh with the Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward and the Western Bus Station.

Cash crunch

The department director, Tran Quang Phuong, said the city needed VND14-15 trillion ($777-833 million) a year on average for spending on traffic infrastructure, but managed only 30 per cent of the amount. It had to resort to build-operate-transfer (BOT) and build-transfer (BT) mechanisms or seek Government permission to issue bonds. "But the BOT system was not appropriate in some cases while the city could not afford to pay investors in case of BT," Phuong said.

The city also struggled to find enough land for "exchanging land for infrastructure", since it no longer had much at its disposal.