Panoramic view of the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway

After more than 2 months of construction, the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway expansion project has begun, but the Ministry of Construction assessed that the progress is still slow due to land acquisition problems.

After nearly 2 months of implementation, the construction site for the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway is clearly taking shape with continuous construction from Ho Chi Minh City to Long Thanh Bridge (Dong Nai). This is a Group A project, implemented in the form of an emergency project, aiming to increase the scale of the expressway from 4 lanes to 8 - 10 lanes, reduce congestion and increase connectivity with Long Thanh Airport. The investor is the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC, under the Ministry of Construction ).

According to VTC News Electronic Newspaper reporters at Long Thanh Bridge area - a "bustling" construction site, many pile drilling and concrete pouring for pier foundations have been mobilized in the middle of Dong Nai River. This is the first technical step of the bridge expansion project from 4 to 8 lanes.

On the Dong Nai bank, because the first phase of the highway has available land, contractors are busy with construction. From Km13+900 to Km25+920, the entire route has been fenced with corrugated iron, machinery and equipment are densely packed at the intersection of Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 2 to Long Thanh Bridge.

Many bored pile foundations have been completed, ready for the construction of the expressway viaduct expansion. Meanwhile, on the Dong Nai River, new bridge piers are being deployed simultaneously, foundation pits and bored piles have been lowered deep into the ground to prepare for the bridge expansion project.

VEC said the section from the Ring Road 2 interchange to Ring Road 3 (Km4+000 – Km8+844.5), nearly 5 km long, will be expanded from 4 to 8 lanes. The section from Ring Road 3 to the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau expressway interchange, nearly 15 km long (not including Long Thanh bridge), will be expanded to 10 lanes.

Although the construction site is bustling, the Ministry of Construction assesses that the actual progress is still slow compared to the requirements of the urgent project. The project only needs to reclaim about 11.99 hectares of land (7.85 hectares in Ho Chi Minh City and 4.14 hectares in Dong Nai), but so far the compensation, support and resettlement work has only stopped at the milestone handover step and has not been implemented in the field.

The Ministry of Construction has sent a document requesting VEC to closely coordinate with the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai Province to speed up legal procedures and hand over the clean site early this year. The investor must increase machinery and human resources to ensure the progress of the items according to the construction schedule, especially the Long Thanh Bridge expansion - which must be closed in December 2026 and completed in March 2027.

The Ministry also requested VEC to direct contractors to fully prepare construction materials such as sand, soil, and rock; at the same time, ensure traffic safety, labor safety, and environmental sanitation in conditions of both construction and exploitation.

In the context that the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh Expressway is the main route serving Long Thanh Airport phase 1, the requirement to speed up the progress is being prioritized by the Ministry of Construction, investors and localities to complete it on schedule.

The project has a total investment of more than 16,300 billion VND, including 6,500 billion VND of budget capital and more than 9,800 billion VND of VEC mobilized capital. According to the plan, the expressway will be basically completed by the end of 2026; the new Long Thanh bridge is expected to be closed in December 2026 and fully completed in the first quarter of 2027.

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/toan-canh-mo-rong-cao-toc-tp-hcm-long-thanh-dau-giay-ar987361.html