A section of the HCM City Ring Road 4 passing Bến Cát Township of Bình Dương Province. Photo nld.com.vn

HÀ NỘI – The Ministry of Transport (MoT) recently sent an official document to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the HCM City People’s Committee outlining options for implementing the HCM City Ring Road 4 Project.

MoT agreed to study the various options in order to choose the best approach and promptly propose solutions to accelerate the project’s progress.

Specifically, regarding implementation plans, the ministry said that one major proposal is to merge the five component projects across five localities into one comprehensive project for submission to the investment approval process.

This differs from a previously approved plan outlined in the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 1263/TTg-CN, dated 29th September 2021.

The transport ministry recommended that the Ministry of Planning and Investment coordinate with the HCM City People’s Committee and relevant localities to clarify the advantages and feasibility of this approach before reporting to the Prime Minister for a final decision.

As for merging the projects into a comprehensive plan, MoT recognised that assigning the HCM City People’s Committee the responsibility of finalising the pre-feasibility study report is a similar approach to that taken in implementing the Ring Road 4 Project for Hà Nội and Ring Road 3 for HCM City.

MoT also agreed that the project's investment application should be expedited, with a goal of submitting the investment approval to the National Assembly during its session in October this year.

The ministry urged HMC City, along with the provinces of Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu, Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An to mobilise their resources to meet this timeline.

The transport ministry has asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to coordinate with HCM City and relevant localities to review and reconstruct the project’s implementation plan.

This should take into account the actual progress of recent similar projects and the procedures for project evaluation under the Law on Public Investment to ensure a feasible and practical timeline for reporting to the Prime Minister.

As for the allocation of central government funds, the MoT emphasised that this project requires substantial investment, with a preliminary total investment of more than VNĐ128 trillion (US$5.27 billion), making the combination of central and local government budgets crucial, especially considering the financial challenges of certain localities.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment should report to the Prime Minister to ensure a balanced allocation of central government funds for the project, according to MoT. The funds should be proportionate to the financial resources available and be reported to the National Assembly in October.

The HCM Ring Road 4 Project has a total length of 207km, of which the section passing through Long An Province is over 78km. The sections in Bình Dương Province is 47.5km, Đồng Nai Province is 45.6km, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province is 18.1km and HCM is 17.3km.

The preliminary total investment is more than VNĐ128 trillion ($5.2 billion), of which construction costs stand at nearly VNĐ77 trillion ($3.1 billion) and land clearance at over VNĐ51 trillion ($2 billion).

The project is proposed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, specifically a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

The project is set to be completed before 2030. VNS