The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has just submitted to the City's Appraisal Council a report on the pre-feasibility study for the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge construction project under the public-private partnership (PPP) method.

According to the proposal, the Thu Thiem 4 bridge project will connect Thu Duc City with District 7. The starting point connects to Nguyen Van Linh road at the intersection with the Tan Thuan 2 bridge access road (District 7). The end point of the project connects to Nguyen Co Thach road at the R4 road intersection (Thu Duc City).

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The proposed route for the Thu Thiem 4 bridge project across the Saigon River connects Thu Duc City with District 7.

The entire Thu Thiem 4 bridge construction project has a total length of approximately 2.16km. This includes a bridge section of about 1,635m and approach roads at both ends of about 525m, designed with 6 lanes (4 lanes for motorized vehicles and 2 lanes for mixed traffic).

The main span of the Thu Thiem 4 bridge will have a steel-reinforced concrete (RC) girder structure, with two RC towers and a lifting system; the approach spans will use prestressed RC girders.

The clearance for ships passing under the main bridge across the Saigon River will be flexibly adjusted; under normal operation, the bridge will have a clearance of 15m; when large ships pass through, the clearance will be raised to 45m.

In addition, the project will include the construction of two grade-separated interchanges connecting with Tan Thuan Bridge and the Nguyen Van Linh - Huynh Tan Phat intersection; and two at-grade interchanges including Huynh Tan Phat - Luu Trong Lu and the intersection of Nguyen Co Thach and Bui Thien Ngo (R4) roads in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area.

In addition, the project also includes the construction of a drainage system, a traffic safety system, and auxiliary works such as traffic safety signs, streetlights, and artistic lighting.

It is planned to build additional toll stations and install a surveillance camera at one location on Nguyen Van Linh Street, District 7 (applying non-stop automatic toll collection technology, with unified and synchronized operation to save investment costs); and install a surveillance camera system.

The Thu Thiem 4 bridge will have a flexible clearance: under normal operation, the bridge has a clearance of 15m, and when large ships pass through, the clearance is raised to 45m.

According to preliminary estimates, the total investment for the project is approximately VND 6,030 billion (including VND 320 billion in interest). Of this, state budget capital in the PPP project is approximately VND 2,826 billion (accounting for 49.5% of the total investment excluding interest); the remaining VND 2,883 billion (accounting for 50.5% of the total investment excluding interest) is BOT capital.

The proposal also suggests dividing the project into two sub-projects.

Component Project 1 - Compensation, support, and resettlement for the Thu Thiem 4 bridge section through District 7 uses 100% state budget funds, equivalent to approximately over 1,387 billion VND.

This project has a total land area of ​​approximately 16.7 hectares, of which about 2.47 hectares are for land acquisition and about 3.1 hectares are for houses and structures; the total number of affected organizations, individuals, and households is approximately 134, including 12 organizations and 114 households (73 cases requiring complete demolition and 61 cases requiring partial demolition).

Component Project 2 - Construction of Thu Thiem 4 Bridge under the PPP model - Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract, is worth approximately VND 4,322 billion (excluding interest).

Of this, state budget capital accounted for approximately VND 1,439 billion (33.3%); and investor capital accounted for over VND 2,883 billion (67.7%).

If approved, the Department of Transport anticipates that the period from now until 2024 will be for project preparation, while compensation, support, and resettlement will be implemented from 2024 to 2025.

Subsequently, a bidding process will be held to select an investor, and the project is scheduled to commence in 2025 and be completed in 2028. The toll collection period will be 18 years and 8 months.

In order to expedite the implementation of the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge construction project and ensure synchronized operation, increase the feasibility of the financial plan and the effectiveness of the project upon completion, the Department of Transport proposes that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee consider and submit to the City People's Council for approval the investment policy for this project.

The proposal requests the Department of Planning and Architecture to urgently implement the partial adjustment of the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Development Plan until 2020 and beyond, as approved by the Prime Minister ; and to update the planning projects related to the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge construction investment project, including the plan for navigable clearance.

Building Thu Thiem 4 bridge too low will 'cut off' space for development on Saigon river . With the design of Thu Thiem 4 bridge's clearance height of 10m, experts say that being too low will 'cut off' space for development on Saigon river when there are no more ships coming in and out.