National Assembly to mull over 5 major road projects

The National Assembly’s May-June sitting will consider means of investment for five major road projects.

The five significant projects are Ring Road 4 in Hanoi; Ring Road 3 in Ho Chi Minh City; Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway that will link Dong Nai province’s Bien Hoa town with the southern coastal town of Vung Tau; Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot Expressway in the Central Highlands and central Vietnam; and Chau Doc-Can Tho-Soc Trang Expressway for Mekong Delta - Vietnam’s biggest food, fisheries and fruit production region.

As proposed, the 113-kilometer Ring Road 4 project, capitalized at more than VND85,800 billion ($3.7 billion), is split into three project groups. Group 1 includes three site clearance sub-projects in Hanoi, and Bac Ninh and Hung Yen provinces. Group 2 consists of three projects on linking roads in the three localities. Group 3 is an expressway in the form of a public-private partnership.

In the southern economic hub of HCMC, the Ring Road 3 project was designed with a 98-kilometer length in the city and the provinces of Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An. It would have four sections namely Tan Van-Binh Chuan, Tan Van-Nhon Trach, Binh Chuan-National Highway 22 and National Highway 22-Ben Luc.

The project is expected to ease traffic jams in the megacity and further improve traffic conditions in the southern key economic zone. Some smaller sections of the project have been under construction for years.

The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway project, proposed with a public-private partnership format, would also promote connectivity in the key economic zone. In an investment plan by the Ministry of Transport, the total capital is about $782.6 million, including nearly $261 million for site clearance and $521.7 million for the first-stage construction.

Meanwhile, in the central region, work on Khanh Hoa-Buon Ma Thuot Expressway is expected to start next year for basic completion in 2025. The 117-kilometer route, proposed by the government as a public-funded project, would start in Khanh Hoa province’s Ninh Hoa town and end in Buon Ma Thuot town, Daklak province.

Khanh Hoa authorities, in a meeting Friday, agreed upon an estimated VND348.5 billion ($15.04 million) from the province’s budget as its financial contribution to the project.

For Mekong Delta, the Chau Doc-Can Tho-Soc Trang Expressway project, as proposed by the Ministry of Transport, would go through Can Tho city, the region’s hub, and the three provinces of An Giang, Hau Giang, and Soc Trang.

Public investment of about VND47 trillion (more than $2 billion) has been proposed for the 188-kilometer route. Construction is set to begin next year, with completion expected by 2025.

The Vietnamese legislative body’s 19-day sitting, which will start on Monday in Hanoi, is also expected to debate and approve five draft laws and look into six other bills, according to its agenda.

They include the amended Law on Insurance Business and the amended Law on Intellectual Property, Vu Minh Tuan, deputy head of the National Assembly Office, told a press meeting in Hanoi on Friday.