Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway at risk of missing the groundbreaking date

Entering the "sprint" stage of preparing to start the main package, the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project is facing a series of legal, technical, and site clearance problems and is at risk of being delayed.

Perspective of Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Toll Station

Just approved 2 component projects

The progress of the main packages of the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project starting on September 2, 2025 is at risk of being affected if the problems are slowly resolved. Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board (abbreviated as Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Board) reported to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on the difficulties and problems in the implementation of the Project.

Regarding the progress of the bidding packages, the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department said that so far, only 2 out of 4 component projects have been approved, including the component project on compensation, support, and resettlement for the section through Ho Chi Minh City (Component Project 3) and the section through Tay Ninh province (Component Project 4). This is only the approval of the overall plan by the City People's Committee, while the specific compensation and resettlement plan has not been approved by the district level.

Accelerating the progress of site clearance and compensation is a prerequisite for the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project to start construction on schedule and complete as planned, opening to traffic by the end of 2027.

- Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the Management Board of Investment and Construction Projects of Traffic Works in Ho Chi Minh City

Component 1 (expressway section) is in the process of completing investment procedures. The Pre-Feasibility Study Report is expected to be submitted for appraisal in May and approved in June 2025. After that, the investor will be selected and the contract signed in December 2025. The project will start construction in January 2026 and be completed and put into operation by the end of 2027.

For Component Project 2 (construction of two-way access roads and overpasses), Ho Chi Minh City departments and branches are appraising the project according to regulations, expected to be approved in May 2025 and start construction in September 2025.

A series of unresolved problems

Up to now, although the progress of component projects is under control, the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project is still facing a number of technical and legal difficulties.

The first difficulty is that the design plan for the intersection between the highway and the N31A canal (part of the Cu Chi district irrigation system) has not yet been agreed upon. The Traffic Department has studied the plan to build a 3-span bridge over the canal and an underpass on Provincial Road 2 to ensure irrigation traffic, in accordance with the master plan and proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee soon agree on the policy to carry out the next steps to keep up with the project's progress.

Regarding the appraisal and approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report, the Traffic Department and the consulting unit have provided documents and worked with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment . After that, the Project EIA Appraisal Council will conduct a site inspection and hold a meeting for the consulting units to report and explain related contents before the Council has an assessment and appraisal report and submits it to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment for approval.

While the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has not yet approved the results of the Project's EIA, the Department of Construction recommends that the City People's Committee approve the Traffic Department to complete the Feasibility Study Report and the Department of Construction issue a notice of the appraisal results of the construction professional agency.

Another challenge comes from compensation, support and resettlement. According to Clause 3, Article 87 of the Land Law (2024), the time for public posting of compensation, support and resettlement plans is 30 days. The time for dialogue in cases of disagreement with the compensation, support and resettlement plan is 60 days. Therefore, the time for posting, collecting opinions, dialogue, completing and approving the compensation, support and resettlement plan of the Project lasted more than 90 days, affecting the disbursement progress of the Project. Because, in order to start the Project, there must be a site for construction.

Therefore, to ensure the progress of the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project, the Traffic Committee proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee approve the plan to allow the parallel implementation of the compensation plan and public consultation to shorten the time. The Traffic Committee also proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee direct Cu Chi district to complete land valuation and complete approval of the overall compensation plan before June 20, 2025.

Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Department, said that after the compensation, support and resettlement plan for Component 3 Project is approved, the Traffic Department will transfer the entire compensation, support and resettlement costs of the Project, which is 4,300 billion VND, to Cu Chi district to pay compensation and support from June 30, 2025.

According to Mr. Phuc, accelerating the progress of site clearance and compensation is a prerequisite for the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project to start construction on schedule and complete as planned, opening to traffic by the end of 2027.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/cao-toc-tphcm---moc-bai-co-nguy-co-loi-hen-khoi-cong-d294385.html