Belt Road No.3 will connect to HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway near Bến Lức town in Long An Province. — VNS Photo Gia Lộc

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Council's Committee for Economy and Policies has instructed relevant departments and agencies to draw up a clear roadmap for building Belt Roads No2 and 3.

Triệu Đỗ Hồng Phước, the committee’s chairman, said their construction is behind schedule and the revised completion dates have not been announced by the builders.

A number of companies are building three sections of Belt Road No.2 – with the contractors yet to be identified for the final section – while Cửu Long Corporation for Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure is building the other road.

While the city People’s Committee has instructed that the deadline for handing over lands required for the roads is the end of this year, only Thủ Đức District has so far done so.

Relevant departments admitted at a meeting with the committee that there is little co-ordination between themselves in the project’s implementation.

Nguyễn Văn Tám, deputy head of the Department of Transport, said the 64.1- kilometre Belt Road No.2 has been planned since 2007 to ease traffic in the city centre.

Now a 50.2-kilometre stretch from Gò Dưa intersection in Thủ Đức District through An Lạc roundabout, Nguyễn Văn Linh Street and Mỹ Thủy intersection to Phú Hữu Bridge has been completed and opened to traffic.  

Another 2.75 kilometres are under construction but work is yet to begin on the rest.

The entire work is expected to cost more than VNĐ16 trillion (US$686 million).

The contractor for the fourth and final phase from An Lập intersection to Nguyễn Văn Linh Street has yet to be identified.

The 89.3-kilometre Belt Road No.3 goes through HCM City and the provinces of Đồng Nai, Bình Dương and Long An and will also be built in four sections. So far 16.3 kilometres in Bình Dương Province have been completed and opened to traffic.

The road starts at the Bến Lức-Long Thành Expressway and ends at the HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment and other relevant agencies are working with the Asian Development Bank to finalise the list of projects, including the Belt Road No.3, for funding in 2019-21. — VNS