Construction of the second traffic axis to connect Long Thanh airport

 

Reduce pressure on the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway

As expected, Long Thanh airport phase 1 will be completed in 2025 with a capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year. In order to meet the progress of completing and operating Long Thanh airport phase 1, currently, the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay expressway is also in the process of completing investment procedures for expansion.

Specifically, recently, the Ministry of  Traffic and Transport has assigned the My Thuan Project Management Board to conduct a pre-feasibility study of the investment project to expand the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay expressway. Funds for pre-feasibility study of the project will be paid according to the annual capital plan, the implementation period from 2021 to 2022.

Regarding the project investment mechanism, the My Thuan Project Management Board will coordinate with the Vietnam Expressway Development Investment Corporation (VEC), which is managing the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway proposes an investment mechanism in accordance with regulations

Previously, in October 2020, Cuu Long Corporation (the predecessor of the My Thuan Project Management Board) submitted to the Ministry of Traffic and Transport an investment plan to expand the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay expressway to solve congestion and meet increased vehicle demand on this route, especially when Long Thanh International Airport Phase 1 comes into operation.

The proposed extension is 24 km long of the total of 55 km of the entire route. The starting point from Ba Dat Bridge (District 2, Ho Chi Minh City) to Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway Interchange (Long Thanh District) will expand the road surface from 4 to 8 lanes. The rest from Long Thanh to Dau Giay, 31 km long kept the current scale. In addition, the intersections on the route such as An Phu, ring road 3, National Highway 51 will also be studied for synchronous connection with highway expansion.

In fact, the plan of the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway can be expanded with a scale of 10 lanes. However, with the scale of operation of Long Thanh airport, the plan of Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay highway is still difficult to meet the traffic demand between Long Thanh airport and Ho Chi Minh City if it expanded to 10 lanes.

Speaking at an online conference connecting traffic in the Southeast region, Long Thanh airport, Ba Ria-Vung Tau at the end of February, Minister of Traffic and Transport, Mr Nguyen Van The said that plan Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay expressway is currently assessed as "outdated" and certainly does not meet the long-term development requirements of Long Thanh airport. “Therefore, it is necessary to have one more traffic connection axis between Long Thanh airport and Ho Chi Minh City, which is provincial road 25C through Cat Lai bridge with a scale of 7-10 lanes” - Minister Nguyen Van The said.

Early investment to complete provincial road 25C

With the identification of provincial road 25C as the second road connecting between Long Thanh airport and Ho Chi Minh City, Minister of Traffic and Transport Nguyen Van The also suggested Dong Nai to pay special attention to completed construction investment of this route. Regarding investment capital, according to Minister Nguyen Van The, because it is a provincial road, the capital source is arranged by the locality. Therefore, with the route in Dong Nai area, the locality balances investment capital, with the route in Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City also balances investment capital. However, in case of difficult finance, localities can request central to support. "If it is difficult to get investment capital from the local budget, it is possible to request the Ministry of Traffic and Transport to propose the Government for support," said Minister Nguyen Van The.

According to the plan, road 25C has a length of 14.5km. Currently, more than 11km of the end of the route has been under construction, in which the middle section of the route located in industrial zones in Nhon Trach district has been completed. For more than 3km at the beginning of the route connecting with National Highway 51 is also being prepared to invest by Dong Nai.

Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang said that to ensure the connection between Long Thanh Airport and Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai was also investing in the construction of road 25C from National Highway 51 to connecting with Cat Bridge. Therefore, the total length of the 25C route needs to be invested increases to about 22km. Along with that, Dong Nai was also coordinating with Ho Chi Minh City to agree the plan to build Cat Lai bridge. When the above items were completed, this would be a complete connection route from the intersection with route No. 1 (the road connects Long Thanh airport as plan will be built new) via Cat Lai bridge to Ho Chi Minh City.​ 

Phan Anh