On the afternoon of October 16, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan worked with the People's Committees of Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau , and Long An provinces on a number of key inter-regional transport projects.
Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan speaks at the meeting. Photo: My Quynh
Regarding the Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan said that the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC - the project investor) is making efforts to complete and put each section into operation. According to the plan, by November 2024, a 3.4km section from the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway intersection to the National Highway 1A intersection, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City will be temporarily exploited.
However, during the actual inspection, there is still a section of highway about 250m long connecting Ben Luc highway to Trung Luong highway that has not been completed, this section is under the responsibility of Long An province. Therefore, Deputy Minister Tuan requested Long An province to speed up the progress, complete it soon to put it into temporary operation.
In addition, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan suggested that Ho Chi Minh City continue to study and speed up the construction progress of intersections at Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway (the section from the QL1A intersection to Nguyen Van Tao Street, about 18.8 km long); how to make the intersection connecting Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway safe and effective. In particular, the intersection of the expressway with Nguyen Van Tao Street must ensure safe connectivity and effective connection to regional seaports.
Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway, near the intersection of Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway. Photo: My Quynh
At the meeting, Mr. Pham Hong Quang, General Director of VEC also emphasized the urgent need to complete the 250m section of the Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway.
According to Mr. Quang, Long An is expected to complete this section of the road by the end of this year, however, it is impossible to connect the two expressways. Therefore, it is recommended that the Long An Provincial Traffic Project Management Board urge the contractor to speed up the construction progress and complete the section as soon as possible to open to traffic in November 2024.
Regarding the longer-term goal, Mr. Quang said that VEC strives to open 18.8km from the QL1A intersection to Nguyen Van Tao intersection (Nha Be district, Ho Chi Minh City) before Lunar New Year 2025. Thus, combined with the 3.1km expected to open in November 2024, the entire 22km long expressway section west of Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway will be open to traffic before the new year.
"VEC will not collect highway tolls during the temporary operation period until April 30, 2025. From May 1, 2025, the unit will start collecting highway tolls," said Mr. Quang.
Mr. Nguyen Minh Lam, Vice Chairman of Long An Provincial People's Committee, said that the road connecting the two expressways, about 250m long, was just handed over and construction started in early 2024, so the progress is not in line with Ben Luc Expressway. However, Long An province has tried very hard to urge the contractor to speed up the progress to complete this section soon in November.
The contractor needs to construct four layers of crushed stone, 10cm of reinforced asphalt crushed stone, 13cm of hot asphalt concrete and complete the pavement and lighting system on the route. However, the most difficult part of this phase is that the construction of asphalt concrete blocks will take a long time to test, and the rainy weather will also affect it.
"We will try to complete the unfinished section by the end of November 2024 to synchronize exploitation with the Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway," said Mr. Lam.
At the meeting, Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, acknowledged VEC's efforts in completing the Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway sections. Mr. Cuong requested the Traffic Department and the Department of Transport to closely coordinate with VEC in completing the items, especially at the intersections between the expressway and National Highway 50, Nguyen Van Tao and Nguyen Huu Tho streets to put them into operation before Tet 2025, serving people's convenient travel.
The Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway construction project has a total length of nearly 58km, passing through the provinces of Long An (2.7km), Ho Chi Minh City (26.4km) and Dong Nai (28.7km).
The project has a total investment of nearly VND 29,600 billion to date, using capital sources including ADB loan (VND 8,065.7 billion), JICA loan (VND 10,101.3 billion), counterpart capital from the state budget (VND 3,872.4 billion) and VEC's self-arranged capital (VND 7,547.6 billion).
From November 2024, VEC proposed to temporarily exploit the 3.4km section from the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway intersection to the National Highway 1A intersection (in Ho Chi Minh City) and the 6.1km section from the Phuoc An intersection to the National Highway 51 intersection in Dong Nai province.
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/dua-22km-cao-toc-ben-luc-long-thanh-vao-khai-thac-truoc-tet-192241016195507667.htm
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