Ho Chi Minh City's Ring Road 3 is expected to open 24km of expressway on December 19.

Photo caption — Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh speaks at the meeting. Photo: Tien Luc/VNA

The Ring Road 3 project is 76.3 km long, with a total investment of 75,378 billion VND. This is a public investment project, managed by the People's Committees of Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong (now Ho Chi Minh City), and Long An (now Tay Ninh province). The project is divided into 8 component projects, including 4 construction projects and 4 site clearance projects.

Representing the investors of the component projects, Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board (Traffic Board) said that the project has completed the site handover. The infrastructure relocation work is being carried out according to the construction progress of the bid packages. Up to now, component project 1 has reached about 58.7% of the contract value; component project 3 (Dong Nai) has reached about 47%; component project 5 has reached about 45.6%; component project 7 has reached about 81.9%.

According to the plan, by December 19, the entire Ring Road 3 project will open to traffic a total of 24.1 km of highway, including 14.7 km of highway in the old Thu Duc city, 3 km in the old Binh Duong province (now Ho Chi Minh City), 6.4 km in the Long An province (now Tay Ninh province); at the same time, 41.4 km of highway will be technically opened to traffic. By June 30, 2026, the entire Ring Road 3 project will be open to traffic.

“The Traffic Department has presided over and coordinated with contractors and consultants to sign a 100-day competition agreement to accelerate the project’s progress. Accordingly, contractors and consultants committed to focusing all resources and organizing construction in “3 shifts and 4 teams” to ensure the project is basically completed before December 19, as directed by the Prime Minister. Currently, contractors are speeding up construction, closely following the progress milestones according to the plan,” Mr. Luong Minh Phuc shared.

Regarding materials for the project, Deputy Minister of Construction Bui Xuan Dung said that, up to now, according to reports from investors, Dong Thap province (formerly Tien Giang province), Vinh Long province (formerly Vinh Long and Ben Tre provinces) have completed licensing all 16 sand mines with capacity meeting project requirements, basically resolving difficulties and problems. Regarding construction, the progress of component projects 1 and 7 basically meets requirements, while the remaining component projects 3 and 5 are 4-10% behind the contract.

According to Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Bui Xuan Cuong, there are 2 investors in the city (component project 1 in Ho Chi Minh City and component project 5 in Binh Duong before). Currently, component project 5 is 6-10% behind schedule, the city has asked the investor to speed up the progress to compensate. With Tan Van intersection, the city is urgently completing the plan to add to component project 1 to invest synchronously with Ring Road 3 project.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh emphasized that Belt Road 3 is a national key project, of strategic significance for the development of transport and socio-economics of the Southern Key Economic Zone. Up to this point, the necessary conditions have been ensured for construction. The project's progress has also achieved many positive changes compared to the previous inspection.

The Deputy Prime Minister also assessed that, through inspection, there are still some shortcomings such as the relocation of high voltage power lines has not been completed as directed before September 15, and there are still some locations that have not been relocated. Project components 3 and 5 are still behind schedule by 4-6%, especially the 4.6 km section of project component 5; the study to complete the Tan Van intersection is only in the report, there is no official decision yet...

Therefore, Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh requested localities to complete the relocation of high-voltage power lines by next October. Ho Chi Minh City quickly completes the investment plan for Tan Van intersection, ensuring effective and synchronous implementation; accelerates the construction progress of 4.6 km of component project 5 to keep up with the overall progress of the project. Localities supplying materials such as Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Dong Nai continue to ensure timely supply for the Ring Road 3 project.

Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh requested the investors of the component projects to request the contractors to construct the new gantt line, ensuring the progress of the contract; at the same time, launch a competition to complete some sections of the route before December 19. The construction units must increase human resources, equipment, and deploy "3 shifts" to increase progress.

On the same morning, Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh inspected the project construction site at Binh Goi Bridge across Saigon River and Tan Van intersection on Ring Road 3.