Ho Chi Minh City needs to have a total investment of over US$9.5 billion for its important traffic projects that are expected to be implemented in the 2024-30 period, the city’s Department of Transport has announced.

The department made the announcement in a report to the municipal administration about its plan for traffic infrastructure development over the next seven years.    

Accordingly, the agency proposed that Ho Chi Minh City prioritize allocating budgets for 59 major projects in the 2024-30 period, excluding urban railway lines which belong to the city’s ongoing railway development project.

Among these projects are those related to four expressways that connect Ho Chi Minh City with Tay Ninh Province’s Moc Bai Town, Dong Nai Province’s Chon Thanh, Long Thanh, and Dau Giay Districts, and Tien Giang Province’s Trung Luong.

The proposed projects also include the three for upgrading and expanding National Highways 1, 13 and 22 in sections that run through the city.

The construction of five projects associated with Beltways 2, 3, and 4 is scheduled for this period.

Three inter-regional connection road projects, eight major intersections and bridges, 25 main and radial roads, one elevated road, four waterway projects, and two large overpasses, among other initiatives, are also set to be developed in this time frame.

All the 59 projects are estimated to cost about VND231,048 billion ($9.53 billion), of which 156,560 billion ($6.45 billion), or 67.8 percent, will be covered by the city’s budget, VND70,126 billion ($2.9 billion), or 30.4 percent, will be mobilized through public-private partnership (PPP) investment, and the rest will be paid by the central government’s coffers, according to the transport department.

The Ho Chi Minh City administration will apply National Assembly’s recent Resolution No. 98, which provides for the pilot implementation of particular policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, and other relevant regulations to ensure the successful execution of these projects, the department said.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has only 2.38 kilometers of road per square kilometer of land, much lower than the road density standard of 10-13.3 kilometers, while the city is home to nearly 9.2 million vehicles, including cars and motorbikes, an increase of 4.69 percent year on year, news site VnExpress reported. 

Such a transport infrastructure system is considered both insufficient and weak compared to the city’s role as Vietnam’s economic locomotive, the news site said.  

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!