An expressway from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia will soon be opened

Information from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City on August 30 shows that more than 1,800 households in 11 communes of Cu Chi district are affected or have to be relocated to give up land for the expressway project.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai expressway project was approved by the Prime Minister in early August 2024 with a total capital of more than VND 19,600 billion, implemented under the BOT (build - operate - transfer) form. In this phase, the expressway will be built with four lanes, then the site will be cleared to increase the scale to six lanes, and the roadbed width will be 25.5 m. The site will be cleared once according to the scale of six expressway lanes on the entire route.

The route is divided into four component projects. The objective of component project 1 is to build the expressway under the BOT method with a total capital of more than VND 10,400 billion, with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee as the competent authority. Component project 2 is to build a residential road and an overpass, with an investment capital of 2,420 billion VND from the budget.

The remaining two component projects 3 and 4 are to clear the land through Ho Chi Minh City and Tay Ninh, which will be paid for by the budgets of the two localities. In particular, compensation, support and resettlement in Ho Chi Minh City is included in component project 3, and it is component project 4 in the case of Tay Ninh.

Of the total project investment of VND 19,617 billion, state capital accounts for 49%, the rest is capital mobilized by investors. The enterprise implementing the project will recover the capital in 14 years and 10 months, then transfer the project to the competent authority. The project implementation period is from now until 2027.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai (Tay Ninh) expressway project is over 50 km long, starting at the intersection with Ring Road 3 in Cu Chi District, ending at Highway 22 in Ben Cau District. This is a key project contributing to the completion of the traffic network of the Southern Key Economic Zone, increasing the capacity of the international intermodal route connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Cambodia, reducing the load on Highway 22. When completed, the expressway will be the shortest route connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Cambodia through the Moc Bai international border gate.

According to Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the expressway section through the city is more than 24 km long, with about 1,808 affected cases, belonging to 11 communes in Cu Chi district. Nearly 99% of households have had their information and land use documents collected by the locality.

Localities issue a decision to reclaim land and start paying compensation from April 2025 to hand over the site for the project. Cu Chi district estimates the total compensation cost for the project at more than VND 7,100 billion, an increase of VND 1,832 billion compared to the previous estimate due to the application of the new Land Law.

In regard to the project, the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai expressway project will apply special mechanisms according to Resolution 98. The site clearance process for the Moc Bai expressway will basically be implemented like Ring Road 3 - a model project in terms of compensation and resettlement, to ensure that people benefit the most when the site is handed over.

“The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has assigned the Department of Transport to focus on implementing the project preparation, approval, investor survey and site clearance compensation for the project from now until the end of the year. This will set up a favorable condition to strive for in the second quarter of 2025. We can start construction of the project and complete the project before December 31, 2027, synchronizing the Phnom Penh - Bavet expressway on the Cambodian side,” said Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the Management Board of Investment and Construction of Traffic Works in Ho Chi Minh City.