Cat Lai Bridge is a bridge crossing the Soai Rap River, connecting Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City with Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai Province. The project has been planned since 2000, and was expected to start construction in 2007. However, due to disagreements on the location of the bridge and the construction schedule, the bridge has yet to start construction.
Until mid-March, the 2 localities had just agreed on a plan to build Cat Lai Bridge. However, the exact location of the bridge was not mentioned. The 2024 land use plan maps of Thu Duc City and Nhon Trach District do not yet have a location for the bridge. In the picture is the 2024 land use map of Thu Duc City (above) and Nhon Trach District (below).
However, according to the Zoning Adjustment Project of Nhon Trach Township and the draft planning of Dong Nai Province for the period 2021 – 2030, with a vision to 2050, the construction location of Cat Lai Bridge will be located at the current Cat Lai ferry terminal. The bridge will connect to Ly Thai To Street in Phu Huu Commune, Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai Province.
Ly Thai To Street is currently quite small with only 4 lanes.
On the Ho Chi Minh City side, Cat Lai Bridge will connect to Nguyen Thi Dinh Street, in Thanh My Loi Ward, Thu Duc City. The planned connection point will also be located in the Cat Lai ferry area.
Currently, Nguyen Thi Dinh Road leading to the ferry is quite narrow, causing great difficulty for vehicles. Therefore, Nguyen Thi Dinh Road is being proposed by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport and Transportation to be upgraded and expanded with a total investment of about 2,100 billion VND.
Recently, the Dong Nai Province Construction Investment Project Management Board has signed a decision approving the survey, design and estimate of the cost of preparing a pre-feasibility study report for the construction of a bridge to replace the Cat Lai ferry. The bridge will be invested under the form of public-private partnership, BOT contract. According to the decision, Cat Lai Bridge is a Group A project, belonging to a special class of works.
In the past, the traffic volume through the Cat Lai ferry has continuously increased, with an average of about 50,000 trips per normal day. At peak times, during holidays and Tet, the number of vehicles passing through the ferry reached 80,000 – 90,000, causing a long line of vehicles waiting to cross the ferry. Normally, it takes about 20 minutes to cross the ferry. When congested, the time can increase to 40 – 60 minutes.
Not only that, the ferry jam also caused a series of roads connecting to the ferry such as Nguyen Thi Dinh (Thu Duc City) to fall into a prolonged traffic jam. Photo: Chau Tuan.
Cat Lai Bridge is expected to reduce the load on Dong Nai Bridge and Long Thanh Bridge, and promote the economic development of Nhon Trach District. Nhon Trach is the district with the most industrial parks in Vietnam with 9 operating industrial parks. The district is considered the connecting point between Ho Chi Minh City and Long Thanh airport. Nhon Trach is also oriented to become a city, a type 2 urban area by 2030.
There are many large urban areas in Nhon Trach, with a value of billions of USD such as Swanbay, Swan Park… Currently, these urban areas are still sparsely populated. One of the reasons is that the connection with Ho Chi Minh City is still limited.
Nhon Trach District has been planned as a new urban area since 2000 and the plan to build Cat Lai Bridge has been in place since then. The reason why the project has not yet started construction is due to the lack of agreement between the two sides (Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai Province) on the route, scale, and start time of construction…
At the beginning of 201
