Under the contract signed in Hanoi on Wednesday (05 August 2009), the Chinese contractor will complete the section in HCMC within 32 months, which is the first package for the long-awaited project of six packages to build the 51km expressway linking HCMC and Dong Nai Province.

This package 1A will include a 3.5-kilometer road passing through District 9 of HCMC, a flyover and landscapes along the section, said VEC general director Tran Xuan Sanh.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, deputy minister of transport Ngo Thinh Duc said it was urgent now to build expressways because of key roads and bridges in the country have become overloaded. He added the Government considers infrastructure a high priority, particularly traffic infrastructure, to foster socio-economic development.

The expressway, which will be a toll road upon completion, will start from the T-junction on the second ring road in HCMC’s District 9, approach the future Long Thanh International Airport, and end at Dau Giay T-junction on National Highway 1 in Dong Nai Province.

The project, prepared years ago to improve traffic connection within the southern key economic zone and ease congestion on National Highway 1, will also include 20 small and medium bridges and a large one of 1.7 kilometers over the Dong Nai River in Long Thanh.

The road project will receive an OCR (ordinary capital resources) loan of over US$410 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and US$516 million from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Once completed in 2014, the project will facilitate traffic to and from the Long Thanh International Airport.

The expressway is designed to connect to the East-West Highway in HCMC and other planned expressways such as Dau Giay-Lam Dong and Bien Hoa-Vung Tau in the coming years to make an axis road linking the Mekong Delta region with southeastern provinces.

The HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay includes two road sections; the first one starting from HCMC’s second beltway to Long Thanh will be funded by JICA and the remaining section Long Thanh-Dau Giay will be financed by ADB.

In the first phase, which requires US$932 million, VEC will develop a four-lane road of 27.5 meters wide. In the second phase, the road will be expanded into eight lanes for the HCMC-Long Thanh section and six lanes for the Long Thanh-Dau Giay section.

The project is divided into six construction packages. As package 1A is now awarded to the Chinese contractor, VEC is selecting candidates for packages 1B, 2 and 3. Several international contractors, mainly Chinese and Korean ones, have submitted papers to vie for these packages. These include CRBC, Guangxi Road and Bridge Construction, Kumho Industrial, Posco E&C, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, Shamwan, Keangnam, Hanshin E&C, and Vietnamese builders Cienco 4, Cienco 6, Cienco 8, Vinaconex, Thang Long Construction.