Ho Chi Minh City gateway interchange completion to be delayed by 6 months

The change was approved by the city People’s Committee after the Department of Construction asked for more time saying the work is behind schedule.

Construction is only around 70% complete.

An Phu intersection construction site in eastern Ho Chi Minh City, November 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The city government has instructed the Management Board for Traffic Construction Investment Projects, which oversees the work, to take "urgent" measures to speed it up.

The construction, which began in late 2022, is budgeted to cost over VND3.4 trillion (US$129 million).

The three-level structure will have a two-way underpass linking the Ho Chi Minh City–Long Thanh–Dau Giay Expressway with Mai Chi Tho Boulevard (on the Saigon River tunnel side) and extending through to the Mai Chi Tho–Dong Van Cong intersection.

The two overpasses will be a Y-shaped one connecting the three roads with the stem (the bottom of the Y) on Luong Dinh Cua and the other allowing a right turn from the expressway onto Mai Chi Tho en route to Hanoi Highway.

An Phu interchange access road is still under construction in HCMC, as of November 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

At the ground level, the interchange will have a central roundabout and a symbolic tower.

In their instructions to accelerate work, city leaders have said Branch Bridge N2, turning right from the expressway into Mai Chi Tho, must be opened to traffic by Dec. 31.

The HC1-02 underpass, connecting Mai Chi Tho and the expressway, must be completed before Jan. 15, 2026.

The interchange project also serves as the main gateway to Cat Lai, the country's largest container port, which handles more than 20,000 container truck movements every day.