HCMC transport infrastructure struggles to keep pace with urban development

Despite great improvements in recent years, transport infrastructure in Ho Chi Minh City is yet to meet its urban development needs, with overloaded roads and rush hour traffic jams remaining rampant.

The city and several neighboring localities have implemented many projects recently to improve regional connectivity. These projects are expected to promote the economic development of urban areas.

However, the city’s transport infrastructure development is still to keep pace with the rapid urbanization process. HCMC’s roads and gateways are always overloaded during rush hours and many inner-city roads see traffic conflicts, even during non-peak hours.

For example, in eastern HCMC, during rush hours, vehicles can barely move on Vo Nguyen Giap road and Rach Chiec bridge to the city center. A similar situation can be seen on other streets like Vo Van Ngan, Nguyen Trinh, Do Xuan Hop and Le Van Viet in Thu Duc city; Nguyen Huu Tho and Nguyen Van Linh in District 7; and Le Van Luong in Nha Be district, where more and more high-rise buildings including apartment complexes are being built.

Dr. Su Ngoc Khuong, senior director of investment consulting at Savills Vietnam, said HCMC was actively carrying out many inner-city transport infrastructure and regional connectivity projects including the Metro Line No. 1 (Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien), which is expected to enter commercial operations in July 2024.

The 19.7-kilometer line with three underground and 11 elevated stations will run from Ben Thanh Hub in District 1 to Suoi Tien Depot in Thu Duc city.

Metro Line No. 1 is expected to ease traffic jams and congestion on city roads, thereby supporting economic and trade activities and improving the quality of life of residents in areas that the route runs through. This and other metro lines in the city’s development plan will help link areas within the city while improving its connections with neighboring provinces, Khuong said.

However, the inner-city metro lines cannot solve all of the city's traffic problems, he added, stressing that HCMC needs to promote more trade and logistics support projects.

The Savills Vietnam expert also observed that so far, the connection between Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta provinces has mainly relied on single-track roads and existing highways, which are often overloaded.

In the future, thanks to the Ring Road 3 and Ring Road 4 projects, inter-regional goods transportation will become more convenient, thus attracting investors, leading to higher demand for rental and purchase of industrial park real estate with facilities like data centers and cold storage warehouses as well as offices.

The Long Thanh International Airport in the neighboring province of Dong Nai will become a transit point for the two ring roads. The combination of transportation projects will shorten travel time as well as save costs, thereby promoting the transportation of goods from Vietnam to countries in the region, Khuong noted.

He said HCMC as well as the central government should focus on developing the railway system from now to 2050, increasing choices for goods transport and reducing the pressure on road, waterway and airway infrastructure.

Capital shortage, projects in limbo

Due to limited medium-term public investment capital for the 2021-2025 period (VND57.2 trillion or $2.34 billion) as well as difficulties in attracting private investment in the form of public-private partnerships (PPP), many key transportation projects in HCMC have not yet been completed.

Typical among these is the VND12.2 trillion ($499.34 million) National Highway 13 expansion project at the northeast gateway (section from Binh Trieu bridge to Binh Duong border). After expansion, the road will be 5.8 km long, with a width of up to 40-60 meters, much wider than the current 19 meters. The highway section in Binh Duong province has been completed with eight lanes, but the one in HCMC still experiences prolonged congestion quite often.

Previously, the project was part of the larger Binh Trieu 2 road and bridge BOT (build-operate-transfer) project that kicked off in 2001 with Transport Construction Corporation 5 (Cienco 5). After the contract with this investor was terminated, the government handed over the project to the HCMC People's Committee in 2004.

After a very long gap, the project seemed to be revived with the municipal administration signing a BOT contract with Ho Chi Minh City Technical Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) for resumption in 2018. However, in 2017, the National Assembly ordered temporary suspension of the BOT model on the existing road, so it had to switch to state budget funding. It remains incomplete to date.

A similar status quo pertains to the VND12.9 trillion ($528 million) National Highway 1 expansion project at the western gateway (section from An Lac to the border with Long An province). The project would expand the road’s width from 19 meters to 52 meters. At the northwest gateway, the National Highway 22 (section from An Suong intersection to Ring Road 3) is scheduled to be expanded by nearly 40 meters with two overpasses, at a cost of about VND1.2 trillion ($49.1 million).

The projects to extend the East-West axis to the South, build the North-South axis from Au Co street to Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park as well as construct a road parallel with National Highway 50 also remain on paper.

Meanwhile, 14 kilometers of the four-section Ring Road 2 remain unfinished.

In most cases, the urgent traffic projects in the city have not been allocated capital. With Resolution 98 adopted by the National Assembly on special mechanisms for Ho Chi Minh City, the city's transportation sector leaders said they hope that enough funds can be sourced and the pending projects implemented soon.