Cost of HCMC-Moc Bai expressway rises by $129 mln

In October 2019, its construction had been announced at a cost of VND10.7 trillion. But in a recent report by HCMC to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the amount was increased due to the addition of two intersections along Ring Road No.3 in HCMC’s Hoc Mon District and Provincial Road No. 8 in the city's Cu Chi District and revised compensation rates for land.

The 53-km expressway will run from Ring Road No.3 to the Moc Bai economic zone on the Cambodian border. It will be 17 m wide and have four lanes in the first phase when it opens to traffic in 2025. A total area of 432ha has to be acquired, around 209ha in HCMC and the rest in Tay Ninh.

The public-private partnership project will be built on a build-operate-transfer basis, with the builders collecting toll for 23 years and eight months.

It will complete the road network in the Southern Key Economic Zone and improve connectivity between HCMC and Cambodia. It will be the second highway between HCMC and Tay Ninh, and ease congestion on National Route 22.

The project has been delayed for long, but in October the government allowed the city to take charge of the project.