Construction began Saturday on an 8.7-kilometer section of Ho Chi Minh City's Ring Road 3 that is set for completion in three years.
The VND6,900 billion ($291 million) 1A sub-project is being carried out in HCMC’s neighboring province of Dong Nai.
The most important part of the project is the 2.6 km-long Nhon Trach Bridge over the Dong Nai River; and two approach roads with a total length of 5.6 km.
This road section is being built with South Korean official development assistance (ODA) loans and Vietnamese counterpart funds. The road section will have four lanes with a width of 20-26 meters that will allow a maximum speed of 80 km/h.
When the route is completed, the time taken from Dong Nai’s Nhon Trach district to Ho Chi Minh City and nearby Binh Duong province will be shortened significantly.
At Saturday’s ground-breaking ceremony, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan said the Ring Road 3 linking HCMC, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Long An with eight sub-projects will connect the southeastern and southwestern regions and give a fillip to socioeconomic development, especially by facilitating transportation from industrial parks to deep-water ports.
The 1A sub-project will also reduce the heavy traffic pressure on the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, Tuan said.
Regional development will get an additional boost when the Long Thanh International Airport opens in Dong Nai, he added.
Tuan noted that the southeastern region accounted for 34% of the country’s GDP but its traffic infrastructure did not match real demand, slowing growth in the region.
"Therefore, priority has been given to developing the region's transport infrastructure like roads and bridges, and airports."
The HCMC Ring Road 3 project includes another 76 km that runs through HCMC, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An. Work on this section, estimated to cost VN75,300 billion ($3.18 billion) is set to start by mid-2023 and scheduled for completion in three years.