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Speaking during a visit to the city on Feb. 9, the Party General Secretary said synchronized roads and transit links must be built ahead of the airport’s full operation, warning that poor connectivity could undermine one of the country’s most important infrastructure projects.
At present, access between Ho Chi Minh City and Long Thanh Airport, which is set to open in June as Vietnam's largest, relies largely on roads, with the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway serving as the main artery. The roughly 40-kilometer journey is frequently snarled by congestion, while key expansions and rail connections remain unfinished.
Several projects are under construction or upgrade, including Ring Road 3, National Highway 51, and provincial routes 25B and 25C, but they have yet to form a fully integrated network. Without faster, higher-capacity links, congestion risks are expected to persist once the airport begins large-scale operations.
Beyond the airport, the General Secretary urged the city to rethink its broader transport layout, particularly links between the former Binh Duong area and central Ho Chi Minh City. He said travel from Thu Dau Mot to downtown should also be cut to around 30 minutes, calling this a key condition for regional growth.
Traffic congestion, he said, remains the city’s most serious bottleneck, slowing goods movement, discouraging tourists and weakening urban competitiveness despite Ho Chi Minh City’s economic advantages.
The Party chief also tied congestion relief to quality-of-life goals, arguing that restricting motorcycles will only work if public transport becomes fast, punctual and convenient enough for residents to switch voluntarily. Without decisive action, he warned, gridlock will worsen in the coming years.
On investment, he stressed that major infrastructure projects must prioritize long-term efficiency and quality over short-term cost or speed. Investors must demonstrate real financial and technical capacity, he said, and intermediaries lacking execution ability should be excluded.
Public investment, he added, should be judged by measurable outcomes, including economic impact and improvements to daily life, rather than by how quickly funds are disbursed. Projects that drag on for years without delivering results, he said, represent waste that must be tightly controlled.
