The HCM City – Mộc Bài Highway project is expected to reduce traffic on National Highway 22, which is the only road connecting HCM City and Tây Ninh Province. VNS Photo Văn Châu

HCM CITY – The authorities of HCM City and Tây Ninh Province are building shopping malls and service facilities along the HCM City – Mộc Bài Highway to raise revenue for construction of the highway.

On Monday, the authorities in both localities agreed to clear land at the intersection of Ring Road No 3 and No 4 to build parking lots, shopping malls and service facilities, according to the HCM City People's Committee. Compensation will be paid to affected residents. 

Võ Văn Hoan, deputy chairman of the People's Committee, assigned the city’s Department of Planning and Investment and Department of Natural Resources and Environment to work with other agencies to submit a plan on the construction of these facilities by today. He also asked them to organise bidding to select investors.

The highway, which is being implemented under a public-private partnership, will connect the city with Mộc Bài International Border Gate in Tây Ninh Province.

The road will run from Ring Road No 3 in HCM City’s Hóc Môn District to Mộc Bài, an international border gate between Việt Nam and Cambodia in the southern Tây Ninh Province. 

The first phase will involve the construction of two separate sections of the highway.

The first will be a 33km section from HCM City to Tây Ninh Province’s Trảng Bàng District, which will have four lanes, with a maximum speed of 120km per hour for vehicles.

The second section from Trảng Bàng to Mộc Bài will be 20.5km long and have four lanes with a designed speed of 80km per hour. 

After the two sections are completed, the second phase of construction will expand the expressway from six to eight lanes. 

It will be completed in two phases and cost VNĐ10.7 trillion (US$459.36 million).

Both localities will pay land clearance compensation from their respective budgets. HCM City will pay VNĐ2 trillion ($85.87 million) and Tây Ninh VNĐ1 trillion ($42.94 million).

The remaining construction costs will be covered by private investors who will be selected in a bidding process or appointed by the government. 

Currently, the only road connecting HCM City and Tây Ninh Province is National Highway 22, which has become overloaded.

The HCM City – Mộc Bài Highway project will meet the transport demand of the region and fit with the national highway network plan. 

In particular, the highway will shorten the time it takes to travel from HCM City to the international border gate, and strengthen the connection between Việt Nam’s key southern economic zones and the East-West economic corridor, including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Việt Nam. 

It will also connect to the Asian Highway Network through Cambodia’s Phnom Penh – Bavet high-speed expressway. – VNS