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

HCM CITY — Chairman of HCM City People's Committee Phan Văn Mãi said that the participation of the city’s entire political system at all levels is important to speed up site clearance and ensure that construction of Ring Road No.3 restarts in June 2023 as scheduled after prolonged delays.

Speaking at a conference held in HCM City late last week, Mãi said the city has established an advisory council consisting of experienced experts to recommend timely solutions to the project’s steering committee for ensuring the progress of the project.

“The new ring road is expected to develop the transport infrastructure system, improve inter-regional traffic connections, and create a new driving force for socio-economic development in the southern economic region,” he said.

Võ Trung Trực, deputy director of the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said the department has proposed handling resettlement issues first to quickly relocate affected households.

It has recommended that the city People's Committee ask the Prime Minister to permit the city to implement this solution to ensure that the land required for the project’s construction is handed over on schedule.

Leaders of local authorities in the city where the road passes through also committed to ensure the progress of site clearance.

The Ring Road No. 3 project has been identified as a key national project and one of the city’s urgent traffic projects in the 2021-25 period. 

The road has a total length of more than 76km, passing through HCM City and the southern provinces of Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An.

It will 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 first phase of the project will cost VNĐ75.4 trillion (US$3.3 billion). Around VNĐ41.5 trillion ($1.8 billion) of this amount will be used for land clearance.

About VNĐ38.7 trillion ($1.7 billion), or about 50 per cent of the total amount, will be sourced from the central Government and the remaining from local budgets of the four localities that the road will run through.

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

The four-lane ring road will be built in four phases.

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

As of now, just 16.7km of the Tân Vạn-Bình Chuẩn section in Bình Dương Province has been completed and opened to traffic.

Construction of other sections of the road has been delayed due to a lack of funds and difficulties in site clearance.

The new road requires huge site clearance work of about 642ha of land, which would affect more than 3,860 households, including nearly 2,400 households in HCM City.

It has 47.51km passing through Thủ Đức City and districts of Củ Chi, Hóc Môn and Bình Chánh in HCM City, 11.26km in Đồng Nai Province’s Nhơn Trạch District, 10.76km in Bình Dương Province’s Dĩ An, Thủ Dầu Một and Thuận An cities, and 6.81km in Long An Province's Bến Lức District.

Land acquisition and clearance for the road section that runs through HCM City is estimated to cost more than VNĐ25.6 trillion ($1.09 billion). The amount will be sourced from public funds, according to the city’s Department of Transport.

The city plans to prioritise work on the third section between HCM City and the Mộc Bài Expressway and the fourth section between the National Highway No. 22 in HCM City and Bến Lức District in Long An Province.

It will auction land around the road to raise funds for the project. 

Authorities in the concerned localities have proposed to the central Government that a number of specific mechanisms be used to ensure completion of the road by 2025 so that it can open to traffic in 2026. — VNS