The Saigon Times

A map illustrates the HCMC-Moc Bai expressway. The total investment in the HCMC-Moc Bai expressway project has increased by VND3 trillion – PHOTO: LE ANH

HCMC – The total investment in the HCMC-Moc Bai expressway project, linking the city with Tay Ninh Province, has been projected to increase by VND3 trillion from the initial figure due to an addition of two intersections along the road and higher site clearance cost.

At a ceremony to sign an agreement on the project in late October last year, the cost for the project was estimated at VND10.7 trillion. However, in a recent document sent to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the figure was reported at more than VND13.6 trillion, the local media reported.

The investment hike was attributed to the construction of an intersection in HCMC’s Hoc Mon District with Ring Road No. 3 and another intersection with road No. 8 in HCMC’s Cu Chi District. In addition, the cost of the site clearance work for the project and compensation for the affected households have increased.

The expressway was designed to have a total length of 53 kilometers, starting at Ring Road No. 3 in HCMC’s Hoc Mon District and ending at National Highway 22 at the Tay Ninh’s Moc Bai Border Gate Economic Zone.

The road, which will have four lanes in the first phase, is expected to be opened to traffic in 2025.

An area of 432 hectares has been taken back to make room for the project, including 209 hectares in HCMC and the remainder in Tay Ninh.

The project will be executed under the public private partnership format with a build-operate-transfer contract.

The capital poured into the project is expected to be recovered 23 years and eight months after the project is put into use.

Once in place, the expressway will help improve the traffic system in the southern key economic zone, increase the capacity of a road connecting HCMC and Cambodia and ease traffic on National Highway 22.

The Ministry of Transport had initially been assigned as the investor of the project. However, the project has been delayed for a long time and in September last year, the HCMC government urged the ministry to propose the Government give it autonomy and coordinate with Tay Ninh to execute the project.

On October 23 the Government allowed the HCMC government to take charge of the project.