HCMC mulls $1.18 bln upgrade of infrastructure around ports

By Gia Minh April 13, 2021 | 09:45 pm PT

Construction of My Thuy 3 Bridge, part of the My Thuy Intersection project, is pictured in February 2021 in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Anh.

The HCMC Department of Transport has called for prioritizing six infrastructure projects to improve connectivity to ports at a cost of VND27 trillion ($1.18 billion).

These would help reduce congestion on roads leading to the city’s main ports such as Cat Lai, Hiep Phuoc and Phu Huu, and should be prioritized for completion in 2021-25, it said in a proposal to the city administration.

Three of them are in Thu Duc City, the My Thuy Intersection and two other roads in its eastern part. The other three are two sections of the second ring road and a section of the North-South Expressway.

The volume of goods passing through the city's ports has already exceeded forecasts for 2025, and trucks transporting them are clogging roads such as Huynh Tan Phat in District 7 and Mai Chi Tho in Thu Duc City.

The city is set to charge an infrastructure fee for goods transported through these ports from July, which it says could fetch more than VND3 trillion a year to be used to upgrade infrastructure around them.