$77 mln construction contract signed for HCMC-Dong Nai bridge

A VND1,800 billion ($77 million), three-year contract was signed Wednesday for building the Nhon Trach Bridge connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai province, both manufacturing hubs in southern Vietnam.

The contract was signed by the My Thuan Project Management Board under the Ministry of Transport and South Korea’s Kumho Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.

Kumho, as contractor, will begin construction as soon as HCMC and Dong Nai authorities hand over the project site.

The Nhon Trach Bridge spanning the Dong Nai River will have a length of more than two kilometers and a width of 19.5 meters. It will also have connecting roads nearly 600 meters long on both sides.

The bridge is part of Project 1A in the Tan Van-Nhon Trach section of HCMC’s Ring Road 3. When complete, it will shorten the distance from Nhon Trach district in Dong Nai to Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province and help ease traffic congestion.

Project 1A, more than 8 km long, connects provincial Road 25B (Dong Nai) to the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway. In the first phase, the road will be built with a width of 20.5-26 m and allow maximum speed of 80 km/h.

The total investment of more than VND6,900 billion ($295 million) in Project 1A is sourced from Korean ODA loans and counterpart capital from Vietnam.

Ring Road 3, passing through HCMC, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An, is divided into four large sections: Tan Van-Binh Chuan, Tan Van-Nhon Trach, Binh Chuan-National Highway 22 and National Highway 22-Ben Luc. Of these, the 16 km Tan Van-Binh Chuan section (part of My Phuoc-Tan Van road in Binh Duong) has been completed.

In addition to the ODA-funded 1A project, construction on the remaining Ring Road 3 sections, more than 76 km long, has been approved by the National Assembly with a total investment of more than VND7.5 trillion ($320.5 million).

Construction of Ring Road 3 is expected to start mid-2023 and be completed in three years. It is seen as a strategic traffic axis for the Southern Key Economic Region, creating an industrial and urban corridor for the four localities that it passes through.