The construction of a new and improved Mien Dong (Eastern) Bus Station in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to be completed by the end of this year, a firm tasked with building it has said.

According to the Saigon Transportation Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO), the new Mien Dong Bus Station will be constructed at the beginning of the second quarter and finished around the end of 2017. SAMCO is the investor of the station.

With the total capital of VND4 trillion (US$176.4 million), the bus station will cover an area of 16 hectares, of which 12.3 hectares will be in outlying District 9, Ho Chi Minh City and the rest in nearby Binh Duong Province.

The existing bus station is situated in Binh Thanh District and is often considered one of the main reasons for traffic congestion in the city.

The new station will be connected with metro line No. 1, linking Ben Thanh Terminal in District 1 with Suoi Tien Terminal in District 9, expected to serve about seven million passengers per annum.

The station will accommodate buses traveling to provinces east of the city, as well as other localities in the central and northern parts of Vietnam.

Dinh La Thang, secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, has previously urged SAMCO to expedite the execution of the project due to delays resulting from site clearance procedures.

Thang has directed that the bus station be completed within 2017.

Meanwhile, site clearance for the new Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station is anticipated to be concluded in the third quarter, while construction will begin in the near future.

The current Mien Tay is located in Binh Tan District, while the new one will be built in outlying Binh Chanh District, being connected with metro line No. 3, which links Ben Thanh with Tan Kien Terminal in Binh Chanh.

Mien Tay now houses buses traveling to provinces west of Ho Chi Minh City.

The relocation of the two bus stations is intended to alleviate traffic jams in the inner areas.

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