In the future, commuting between District 4 and District 2 will be much easier for local residents as Ho Chi Minh City authorities recently unveiled a plan to construct a bridge connecting the two districts.
According to Tuoi Tre, the city People’s Committee recently appointed Thaison Group and the Vietnam Infrastructure and Property Development (VIPD) Group to carry out the project.
The new bridge, called Thu Thiem Bridge 3, will bring traffic from District 4 through Ton Dan Street to the Thu Thiem New Urban Area on the Thu Thiem peninsula. Under a public-private partnership arrangement, the construction also entails the expansion and improvement of Ton Dan to accommodate increasing traffic volume.
According to the Thu Thiem master plan, the peninsula will eventually be connected with neighboring districts through five bridges and a tunnel. Two of these, the Thu Thiem Bridge 1 and the Thu Thiem Tunnel, have been in operation since 2010 and 2011, respectively.
Earlier this year, construction of the 1.5-kilometer-long, US$150 million Thu Thiem Bridge 2 commenced and is expected to finish in 2018.
Thu Thiem is currently Saigon’s hottest area for development projects: the municipal government announced last May that plans for the US$2.2 billion Eco Smart City are also under way along with a lotus-shaped conference center in the heart of the new town.
