Work starts on Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway

Work starts on Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway

Le Anh

An artist's impression of an interchange of Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway - Photo: Le Anh

The first package, costing over VND2.4 trillion, consists of a cable-stayed bridge crossing the Cha River and an overpass through HCMC’s Can Gio District.

A consortium comprising Japanese contractor Sumitomo Mitsui and local partner Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (Cienco 4) is the contractor of this package.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony Saturday, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the project would help connect provinces in the southeastern and southwestern regions, thus promoting socio-economic development in the key southern economic region, especially the southeast.

This section of the expressway will link major seaports in the south such as Thi Vai-Cai Mep and Sao Mai-Ben Dinh, and lead to what will become the country’s largest international airport in Dong Nai Province – Long Thanh International Airport.

As it takes four years to prepare and another four years to construct the entire expressway, HCMC, Long An and Long Thanh provinces and contractors must pay attention to site clearance, carry out the project on schedule and take care of displaced people, Dung said.

The four-lane highway is designed for vehicles to run at a maximum speed of 100 kms per hour.

Of the total projected funding of more than US$1.6 billion for the project’s first phase, US$636 million will come from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), US$635 million from the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the remaining US$337 million from the Vietnamese government.

When in place, the road will facilitate transport between the Mekong Delta and the eastern region of southern Vietnam as vehicles will not have to pass through HCMC, thus reducing traffic on the HCMC section of National Highway 1A and National Highway 51 in Dong Nai Province.

The expressway would also connect to the long-planned HCMC-Vung Tau expressway, forming part of the southern economic corridor in the Greater Mekong Subregion spanning from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, HCMC and Vung Tau.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2018.

Work starts on Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway Related image(s)