In an effort to decrease traffic congestion near Tan Son Nhat International Airport, city officials are considering the construction of a VND15 trillion (US$672.6 million) overpass.
According to the Saigon Times, the 9.5-kilometer structure would begin at Lang Cha Ca Roundabout near Tan Son Nhat and end at two points in Binh Thanh District: Dien Bien Phu Street and Ngo Tat To Street near the Phu An Bridge, serving the 30,000 vehicles that enter and leave the airport everyday.
The overpass was originally planned to run along the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, reports Cafe F, however the Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment (CII) JSC, the firm responsible for the project, chose to relocate the elevated road after taking into consideration the recent renovation of Saigon's downtown canals.
According to Thanh Nien, CII has set up Elevated Road No. 1 Investment, an outfit dedicated solely to the construction of the overpass, and holds an 80% stake in the subsidiary firm.
If the overpass receives approval, Elevated Road No. 1 would execute the project under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement, in which a private firm constructs and operates a public sector project for an allotted period of time.
CII CEO Le Quoc Binh anticipates the project would begin in 2017 and take three years to complete. Though there is no word regarding the financing of the project, Binh told Saigon Times his firm would look for partners who could handle the expenses independently rather than seeking bank loans.
In line with the municipal government's master zoning plan for transport in Saigon, a total of five elevated roads are to be constructed in order to ease downtown traffic congestion.
[Photo via Cafe F]
