HCM CITY — Work to relocate HCM City’s Eastern Bus Terminal (Bến Xe Miền Đông) in Bình Thạnh District will begin in early 2018, allowing tens of thousands of passengers to use daily services, the general director of the Eastern Bus Terminal has said.

Nguyễn Ngọc Thừa said the relocation of the bus terminal would be done in three stages, with the first stage to start during the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday of 2018.

The city’s Department of Transport has asked the Sài Gòn Transportation Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO) – the operator of four bus terminals in HCM City – to provide bus services to transport passengers from the existing location in Bình Thạnh District to the new facility in District 9.

SAMCO broke ground for construction of the new Eastern Bus Terminal in District 9 in April.

The new Eastern Bus Terminal will cover an area of 16ha, three times as large compared to the existing Eastern Bus Terminal in Bình Thạnh District.

This will include 12.3ha in District 9 and 3.7ha in the southern province of Bình Dương’s Dĩ An District, according to Trần Quốc Toàn, CEO of SAMCO.

The new bus terminal will be connected with Metro Line No 1, linking Bến Thành Terminal in District 1 with Suối Tiên Terminal in District 9.

It is designed to accommodate more than seven million passengers each year who travel to eastern provinces as well as to localities in the central region and northern Việt Nam.

It will also provide services to 21,000 passengers and accommodate 1,200 buses per day.

The figures are expected to increase to 52,000 passengers and 1,800 buses per day on holidays and during the traditional Tết (Lunar New Year) festival, SAMCO said

The new bus terminal will help ensure traffic order and wipe out illegal bus services and parking spaces in the city.

Located on land between HCM City and Bình Dương Province, the new Eastern Bus Terminal is expected to play an important role in the city’s transportation system, according to SAMCO.

According to Lê Văn Khoa, deputy chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, the new terminal complex would link urban areas with public transport networks and include multi-story parking spaces, maintenance areas, fuel stations, cargo depots and commercial centres.

The new bus terminal is expected to reduce traffic congestion and the number of accidents in the city through 2020.

It will also replace the existing Eastern Bus Station, which is in an inner city district and no longer suited to the city’s urban development plan.

The terminal complex will also help facilitate transportation between HCM City and neighbouring provinces, Khoa said.

Tăng Thị Thu Lý, deputy director general of SAMCO, said that total capital for the project amounted to VNĐ773 billion (US$34.5 million).

SAMCO also revealed that an investment of VNĐ726 billion has been prepared for compensation for site clearance for construction of Western Bus Terminal (Bến Xe Miền Tây) in An Phú Tây Commune in Bình Chánh District.

The city’s People Committee has asked the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment to facilitate procedures for land recovery, and has told Bình Chánh District People’s Committee to complete site clearance for the Western Bus Terminal before September 30.

The new Western Bus Terminal is located on a 24.2ha area, including 17ha for the bus terminal and a 7.3ha depot for bus maintenance services. — VNS