The Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Mr. Phan Van Mai, spoke at the meeting.
According to the plan, the Beltway 4 of Ho Chi Minh City passes through the provinces of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Long An. The scale and technical standards of the expressway are type A, with a design speed of 100 km/h and a cross-section of 6 – 8 lanes. This is a high-speed ring road of the national road network plan, with a length of about 199 km, to be invested before 2030.
According to Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Beltway 4 is a key transport project, with urgent and important significance in the socio-economic development of the entire Southeast region and the localities. Therefore, it is necessary to study overtime, increase the pace, and shorten the time for the project implementation, because if the project starts operation early, it will bring great benefits.
Regarding the standard of high-speed implementation for Beltway 4, Mr. Phan Van Mai said that we should not be concerned about the cost but need to release the 8 lanes; specifically, in phase 1, we will construct 4 lanes with an emergency lane. Localities need to agree on the milestones, progress, and provide specific guidelines for implementation; Beltway 4 can be applied similarly to Beltway 3 to request special mechanisms.
Mr. Tran Quang Lam, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, said that since September 2021, the Prime Minister has assigned localities to carry out the project preparation steps. Localities have conducted research and updated the project’s length and cross-section. The newly added route has a length of 207 km, phase 1’s cross-section includes 4 lanes and carries out one-time clearance with 8 lanes. The initial total investment for phase 1 is about 105,964 billion VND.
Through the research process, localities have proposed two implementation options. Option 1, each locality is the competent authority for their assigned project in each province or city, meeting the schedule to start construction in 2025 and complete in 2028. Option 2 is to merge the entire Beltway 4 into one project for implementation. Localities basically choose option 1.
The scene of the meeting between the Ministry of Transport and localities.
Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Transport, evaluated that Beltway 4 is extremely important, contributing to connecting the region and creating new spaces to link urban areas. As the project is implemented between terms, the issue of allocating capital is quite difficult, so it is necessary to consider mechanisms such as using the budget of this province for other provinces; study adjusting the allocation ratio, the consulting unit to establish special mechanisms as applied in Beltway 3…
According to Deputy Minister Le Anh Tuan, there should be a common consulting unit for the entire project to summarize, advise, and argue the implementation plan of the component projects. Localities continue to review and compare the planning orientation and current status of industrial zones, residential areas… to arrange them appropriately.
At the meeting, some opinions also proposed studying the option of building causeways in certain areas, although it may increase the initial costs but will accelerate the progress and solve climate change issues, not depending on raised land… Localities also set the goal of implementing multiple workgroups to simultaneously commence the project in 2025; among them, the localities are determined to submit the project to the National Assembly in mid-2024.
