HCM CITY — The Southern Expressway Projects Management Unit (SEPMU) has urged Đồng Nai Province to speed up site clearance to ensure the construction progress of the Bến Lức-Long Thành Expressway which runs through Long An and Đồng Nai provinces and HCM City.
“Slow site clearance has delayed the project, particularly in Nhơn Trạch and Long Thành districts in Đồng Nai,” Lê Mạnh Hùng, director of SEPMU under the Việt Nam Expressway Corporation (VEC), said.
Provincial agencies have also been asked to revoke fishing licences issued to households in the Thị Vải river area where part of the project is located.
In addition, agencies have been asked to deal with households that have not allowed the contractor to access the construction site and have demanded payment.
“The affected households are complaining about the compensation rate. They also demand that they should choose the resettled land lots instead of being based on a lucky draw.” he said. “They want their resettled land lots located at the front of streets in the resettlement area.” 

In Nhơn Trạch, 56 households have not handed over land covering more than 20ha while in Long Thành, more than 150 households have not given their land, covering nearly 8ha, according to Hùng.

A 27km-long section of the Bến Lức-Long Thành Expressway, which has a total length of 58km, runs through Đồng Nai Province.

The expressway connects Long An Province’s Bến Lức and Cần Giuộc districts with Bình Chánh, Nhà Bè and Cần Giờ districts in HCM City; and Nhơn Trạch and Long Thành districts in Đồng Nai Province.
The road includes a total of 20km of bridges, including a 3km-long Bình Khánh Bridge that crosses the Soài Rạp River and a 3.2km-long Phước Khánh Bridge over the Lòng Tàu River.
With four lanes, the Bến Lức-Long Thành Expressway has two lanes for emergency stops and a speed limit of 100km per hour.
Started in July 2014, the first phase of the Bến Lức-Long Thành Expressway required VNĐ31.3 trillion (US$1.34 billion), sourced from the Asia Development Bank, the Japanese Government via the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA), and from the Vietnamese Government.
The project is expected to be completed by 2020.
The expressway is expected to ease transport between the southeastern region and the Mekong Delta without running through HCM City, thus helping to reduce traffic congestion on National Highway No 1A in HCM City and National Highway No 51 in Đồng Nai Province.
The expressway would also connect the country’s expressway and highway networks with major seaports in the south such as Thị Vải-Cái Mép and Sao Mai-Bến Dinh, and the planned Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai.
It will also help ease traffic pressure and reduce the number of traffic accidents on National Highway No 1A and National Highway No 51 and at the same time reduce the travel time between Long An, Đồng Nai and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu provinces.
Once put into operation, the expressway will be part of the Asian Highway linking Thailand’s Bangkok to Việt Nam’s HCM City and Vũng Tàu via Phnom Penh in Cambodia. — VNS