Early expansion of Trung Luong expressway

Expanding the highway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Southwest region, especially the Trung Luong - My Thuan section, is the desire of many drivers and residents in the area.

Submit pre-feasibility study report for appraisal in December 2024

The Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway is the route connecting the economic and social center of the Southwest region with Ho Chi Minh City. The traffic volume is very large, exceeding the service capacity of the route.

Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway.

Recently, traffic jams have occurred frequently, posing many potential risks of accidents and traffic insecurity, especially on the Trung Luong - My Thuan section, which has just been invested with a scale of 4 lanes and no emergency lane.

According to the authorities' calculations, the traffic volume on the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway is currently much larger than it was 10 years ago. This expressway is becoming a "bottleneck" in the West when the My Thuan - Can Tho, Can Tho - Ca Mau, Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang, Cao Lanh - An Huu routes... are put into operation one after another.

To meet the transportation needs, serve the socio-economic development, and implement the Prime Minister's direction on researching and implementing the investment project to expand the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway under the public-private partnership (PPP) method, the Ministry of Transport has assigned the Deo Ca Group - Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company - Tasco Joint Stock Company as the investor to prepare the project's Pre-Feasibility Study Report (proposed by the investor).

It is known that up to now, the Deo Ca Group consortium (the proposed investor) is in the process of completing the project's pre-feasibility study report, expected to be submitted to the Ministry of Transport for appraisal in December 2024.

According to the proposed plan, the project has a total preliminary investment of about 38,693 billion VND, implemented under the PPP method, BOT contract form, without State budget capital participation.

The toll collection payback period is about 23 years and 5 months, with implementation period from 2024 to 2028.

Mr. Le Quoc Dung, Director of Project Management Board 7, said that the proposed investor consortium led by Deo Ca Group has implemented many PPP projects across the country, has a lot of experience in management, organization and implementation, especially in financial arrangements - a very important factor in PPP project investment.

"Recently, although the project is only in the proposal stage, the Deo Ca consortium has made great efforts and been proactive in preparing investment proposal documents, preparing capital sources, technical solutions, construction organization, material sources...", Mr. Dung said.

Previously, on December 9, 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a meeting on investment in the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway expansion project. The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Transport to study and propose investment, and promptly implement the next steps to be able to start the project in the second quarter of 2025.

Regarding the scale of the project, the Deputy Prime Minister basically agreed with the plan of the Ministry of Transport and the investor has agreed on the proposal. However, the Ministry of Transport and the investor need to discuss further with relevant localities to agree on the optimal investment scale, ensuring feasibility for implementing the expansion investment in the soonest time.

The Deputy Prime Minister also requested that there should be no situation where the investment and construction are completed but in the short term, traffic congestion occurs. The Ministry of Transport, the investor proposing the expansion project and the consultant are responsible for the calculation and forecast data, especially regarding traffic volume.

The Ministry of Transport is also assigned to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to propose a plan to select investors according to regulations to ensure that the selected investors have full capacity and experience to implement the project in the soonest time.

The expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway is expected to be implemented soon to eliminate the risk of congestion on the connecting route from Ho Chi Minh City to the West.

Businesses and people are waiting.

Expanding the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway is the desire of thousands of drivers and people traveling every day on the vital route connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Mekong Delta region.

Mr. Lam Dai Vinh - Director of Lam Vinh Transport Company Limited, said that every month the company receives hundreds of shipments of rice, export and import goods to the West via this highway. However, most drivers are haunted by the narrow road.

"Although it is a highway, the Trung Luong - My Thuan route only has 4 lanes, so every time there is a collision, drivers have to queue for kilometers, causing serious congestion.

"The expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway to 8 lanes is great. Travel time is faster, businesses can save time, fuel, and costs, while increasing frequency and optimizing transportation activities," Mr. Lam Dai Vinh assessed.

Considering that the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway is currently overloaded, according to Trinh Van Minh (a driver on the Can Tho - Ho Chi Minh City route), the investment in expansion should be done as soon as possible. "It is a vital traffic route connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Western provinces, but accidents and traffic jams happen like clockwork," Minh shared.

From the perspective of a state management agency, Mr. Le Quoc Dung, Director of Project Management Board 7, also affirmed that the investment in expanding the expressway is very urgent and the sooner it is done, the better it will be to serve the people and society.

"Currently, the Ministry of Transport and the project's proposed investor are urgently completing procedures, and studying regulations and solutions to shorten the project implementation time, striving to start the project on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025) as directed," said Mr. Dung.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/som-mo-rong-cao-toc-trung-luong-my-thuan-xoa-nut-that-co-chai-o-mien-tay-192241221094222861.htm