Transport ministry seeks 10-lane southern Vietnam expressway

The Ministry of Transport has asked state-owned Vietnam Expressway Development Investment Corporation (VEC) to consider widening Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway to 10 lanes, instead of the eight proposed by the investor.

According to the ministry, the proposal by VEC, Vietnam’s top expressway developer, on developing eight lanes for the section from the Ring Road 3 intersection in HCMC to the intersection with Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway in neighbouring Dong Nai province’s Long Thanh district is not consistent with the road network planning for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050. Accordingly, HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway is set to have 10 lanes.

In addition to the two investment forms VEC has proposed, the ministry also suggested adding three others namely public investment, public-private partnership (PPP), and franchise to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the five options.

It says that the VEC-proposed option in which the state budget makes up 44% of the total investment is not feasible as medium-term public investment capital for the 2021-2025 period has run out. Therefore, the ministry required VEC to update information and propose a more feasible option.

Earlier this month, VEC submitted to the Ministry of Transport an investment plan to expand HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway from the Ring Road 2 intersection to the intersection with Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway) with a length of about 21 kilometers and a total cost of VND13.88 trillion ($584.8 million)

Accordingly, the section from the Ring Road 2 intersection to the Ring Road 3 intersection is expected to expand from four to eight lanes and the section from the Ring Road 3 intersection to the intersection with Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway is set to have eight lanes in the first phase and 10 lanes in the second.

The 55-kilometer HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, opened to traffic in 2015, has become overloaded, especially during big holidays. The road’s existing capacity is unable to meet the transport demand at present and in the future. Given this, it needs to be expanded early so as to meet the transport demand, particularly when Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai province becomes operational.

Under Vietnam's road network planning for 2021-2030, with a vision towards 2050, the country aims to develop over 5,000 kilometers of expressways by 2030, compared to more than 1,160 kilometers at the end of 2021.

There will be 14 expressways with a total length of about 2,305 kilometers in the north, 10 expressways with a combined length of 1,431 kilometers in the central region and Central Highlands, and 10 expressways with a total length of 1,290 kilometers in the south.