A map of the Ring Road No. 3 passing through HCM City and Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An provinces. — Photo plo.vn

HCM CITY — A senior National Assembly deputy has asked the four localities hosting the Ring Road No. 3 to speed up site clearance for ensuring its completion by 2025.

Vũ Hồng Thanh, chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, stressed the urgency of the project during a recent working visit to the road’s construction site. 

“The four localities (HCM City and Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An provinces that the road will run through) are committed to ensure the allocation of investment, including additional adjusted funds for the project,” he noted.

The NA working team would report its assessment to the National Assembly for approval in the next session, he noted.

Lương Minh Phúc, head of the HCM City Management Board for Traffic Works Construction and Investment, said HCM City and other provinces are preparing necessary documents to submit to the National Assembly today.

The road requires huge site clearance work, which would affect more than 3,800 households, including nearly 2,500 in HCM City, he said.

Phan Văn Mãi, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the city aims to complete site clearance and start construction by the end of 2023.

HCM City and other localities would ensure funding for the project in case more investment is needed, he added.

“Site clearance is the most pressing issue. We will work to ensure the highest interests for people such as proper compensation rates and resettlement for the affected families.” 

The city has housing funds available for people to reside temporarily while waiting for resettlement, he said. It also plans to establish an advisory council consisting of experienced experts to facilitate timely solutions to ensure the project’s progress, he added.

The 92km-long road will have four lanes, while parallel roads will have two-three lanes each. 

The first phase of the project is estimated to cost VNĐ75.3 trillion (US$3.25 billion). Nearly VNĐ40 trillion will be sourced from the central budget and the remaining from local budgets of the localities that the road will run through.

Approval is being sought to auction land around the road to raise funds for the project. 

HCM City will collect nearly VNĐ30 trillion from auctioning more than 500ha of public land along the road; and Đồng Nai more than VNĐ4.3 trillion from about 214ha. 

Although the original project was approved by the Government 11 years ago, its construction has been delayed repeatedly.

Only 16.7km of the Tân Vạn-Bình Chuẩn section in Bình Dương Province has been completed and opened to traffic to date.

Construction of other sections of the ring road has been postponed because of fund shortages and hurdles in site clearance.

It has been identified as a key and urgent traffic project for the 2021-25 period. Since the project has been identified as a national key project, it must get approval from the NA.

It is expected to help ease traffic congestion in HCM City and transport goods from Mekong Delta provinces to the Nhơn Trạch Industrial Zone in Đồng Nai Province and Cái Mép-Thị Vải Port in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province.

The project is divided into eight sub-projects: four to do with site clearance work and the others involving construction. — VNS