Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai authorities are required to basically complete land clearance for the Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway project before the end of August.
The project is important, aiming to bolster the Southern Key Economic Zone's socio-economic development, especially the southeastern key economic area, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh stated in a Government Office release, setting out the deadline.
The expressway has a total length of 57.8 kilometers - 2.7 kilometers in Long An province, 26.4 kilometers in HCMC, and 28.7 kilometers in Dong Nai province.
The project implementation has fallen behind schedule, with total disbursement of investment capital for its major components reaching about 71% of the total VND22,317 billion ($953.5 million).
Ben Luc is a district in Long An, while Long Thanh district in Dong Nai is home to the Long Thanh International Airport.
The Airports Corporation of Vietnam plans to start construction of the airport’s first passenger terminal this October. Construction will involve three phases. In the first, set for completion in 2025, a runway and passenger terminal will be built to annually serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo.
The airport, about 40 kilometers from downtown HCMC, is expected to relieve overloading at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC. Once it is fully completed in 2050, it will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo annually.
Alongside Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway and Long Thanh airport, other key national infrastructure projects are underway in the south, including the Phan Thiet-Dau Giay and Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressways, and Ring Road 3 in the Greater HCMC region.
Dong Nai, Long An and HCMC are manufacturing hubs in southern Vietnam.