The HCM City – Mộc Bài Expressway is expected to improve economic development in Tây Ninh Province. — Photo tphcm.chinhphu.vn

HCM CITY — After reaching a consensus with the People’s Committee of Tây Ninh Province, the HCM City People’s Committee has petitioned the Prime Minister and Ministry of Transport for permission to call for investment for the HCM City-Mộc Bài Expressway project.

The expressway, which will be nearly 53.5 kilometres long, will link Ring Road No 3 in HCM City’s Hóc Môn District with Mộc Bài, an international border gate between Việt Nam and Cambodia in the southeastern province of Tây Ninh.

The expressway project will be divided into two investment phases under Public-Private Partnership and Build-Operate-Transfer models, according to a statement from the HCM City People’s Committee issued earlier this week.

In the first phase, the entire expressway will be built with four lanes. The total capital for the phase is expected to be nearly VNĐ10.7 trillion (US$461.6 million) under the PPP investment.

In the second phase, the number of lanes will be increased to eight on a section extending from Ring Road No 3 in HCM City’s Hóc Môn District to Trảng Bàng District in Tây Ninh Province. A section from Trảng Bàng District to Mộc Bài will be increased to six lanes.

The HCM City People’s Committee will be in charge of compensation for ground clearance in the city, while the Tây Ninh Province People’s Committee will be responsible for compensation in the province.

To generate revenue for the project, the HCM City People’s Committee has asked the Prime Minister for permission to expand ground clearance at intersections between the expressway and Ring Roads No 3 and 4 as well as to other sites in order to build logistic stations and commercial and service malls.

The city also wants permission to develop plans for urban areas near neighbouring areas at expressway intersections.

The expressway is expected to ease traffic congestion and create favourable conditions for industrial parks and export processing zones in Tây Ninh Province, especially the Mộc Bài Border Gate Economic Zone.

HCM City and Tây Ninh Province are among eight provinces and cities in the southern key economic zone.

HCM City’s gross regional domestic product accounts for 42 per cent of the country’s total GDP.

The Mộc Bài international gate in Tây Ninh Province has international exchanges with Cambodia and Thailand.

Highway No 22 is the only road linking HCM City with Mộc Bài. A survey conducted in 2017 showed that 39,700 vehicles traveled on the highway each day, and that its designed loading capacity was 40,000 per day.

Construction of the HCM City-Mộc Bài Expressway is slated to be completed by 2025 with at least four lanes and expanded to six or eight lanes by 2045. — VNS