An overpass at the Cát Lái Intersection in HCM City’s Thủ Đức City of the Ring Road No.3 meant to ease congestion and improve connectivity with neighbouring provinces. — VNA/VNS Photo Trung Tuyến

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has approved the acquisition of 408 hectares of land and relocation of 740 households that own them to make way for the construction of a 47km section of the Ring Road No.3.

Ring Road No.3, identified as a key national project and one of the city’s urgent traffic projects in 2021-25, is expected to improve the transport infrastructure and inter-regional connectivity, and create a new driving force for socio-economic development in the southern economic region.

It will help ease 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.

It will run more than 76km through the city and the provinces of Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An.

A total of 1,476 households living on 640ha need to be relocated.

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

Construction has been delayed repeatedly after the project was approved by the Government more than 10 years ago.

So far only the Tân Vạn-Bình Chuẩn section in Bình Dương Province has been completed and opened to traffic.

Construction of other sections has been delayed due to a lack of funds and difficulties in clearing lands.

The section in HCM City will run through Thủ Đức City and the districts of Củ Chi, Hóc Môn and Bình Chánh. Land acquisition and clearance is estimated to cost more than VNĐ25.6 trillion ($1.09 billion).

The city is speeding up land acquisition, compensation and resettlement support to ensure construction of delayed sections resumes in June 2023 as scheduled.

The People’s Committee has tasked the Department of Natural Resources and Environment along with other relevant units to quickly organise land boundary marking and hand over land documents. — VNS