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

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

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Route of Thu Thiem 4 bridge construction project across Saigon River connecting Thu Duc City with District 7.

The entire Thu Thiem 4 Bridge construction project is approximately 2.16km long. Of which, the bridge is approximately 1,635m long, the approach roads at both ends of the bridge are approximately 525m long, designed with 6 lanes (4 motor vehicle lanes and 2 mixed vehicle lanes).

The Thu Thiem 4 bridge section will have a main span structure of steel beams - reinforced concrete (RC), arranged with 2 RC towers along with a lifting system; the approach span will use prestressed RC beams.

The clearance of the main bridge across the Saigon River will be flexibly adjusted. During normal operation, the bridge will have a clearance of 15m; when a large ship passes, the clearance will be raised to 45m.

In addition, within the scope of the project, 2 different-level intersections will be built at Tan Thuan Bridge and Nguyen Van Linh - Huynh Tan Phat intersection; 2 at-grade intersections including Huynh Tan Phat - Luu Trong Lu and Nguyen Co Thach and Bui Thien Ngo (R4) intersections - Thu Thiem New Urban Area.

In addition, the project also builds a drainage system, traffic safety system and auxiliary works such as traffic safety signs, lighting and decorative lighting.

It is planned to build an additional toll station system and surveillance cameras at one location on Nguyen Van Linh Street, District 7 (applying non-stop automatic toll collection technology, organizing unified and synchronous operations to save investment costs); installing a surveillance camera system.

Thu Thiem 4 Bridge will have flexible clearance: During normal operation, the bridge has a clearance of 15m, when a large ship passes by, the clearance is raised to 45m.

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

Also in the submission, the project is proposed to be divided into two component projects.

Component project 1 - Compensation, support, and resettlement of Thu Thiem 4 bridge section through District 7 uses 100% state budget capital, equivalent to more than 1,387 billion VND.

This project has a total land use area of ​​about 16.7 hectares, of which the recovered land area is about 2.47 hectares, the area of ​​houses and architectural structures is about 3.1 hectares; the total number of affected organizations, individuals and households is about 134 cases, including 12 organizations and 114 households (full clearance: 73 cases, partial clearance: 61 cases).

Component project 2 - Construction of Thu Thiem 4 bridge under the PPP form - Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract, equivalent to about VND 4,322 billion (excluding interest).

Of which, state budget capital is about 1,439 billion VND (33.3%); investor capital is about more than 2,883 billion VND (67.7%).

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

Then, organize a bidding to select an investor and start the project in 2025, completing in 2028. Toll collection period is 18 years and 8 months.

In order to soon implement the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge Construction Investment Project and ensure synchronous exploitation, increase the feasibility of the financial plan and the effectiveness of the project upon completion, the Department of Transport recommends that the City People's Committee consider and submit to the City People's Council a decision on the investment policy of this project.

Propose to assign the Department of Planning and Architecture to urgently carry out local adjustments to the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Development Plan to 2020 and vision after 2020 approved by the Prime Minister ; update planning projects related to the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge Construction Investment Project, including the navigation clearance plan.

Building Thu Thiem 4 bridge too low will 'cut off' space for development of 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 of Saigon river when there are no more ships coming in and out.