The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance has just sent a document to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee regarding the proposal to study investment in the project to upgrade and expand Rung Sac road and build the 15B connecting section according to the public-private partnership (PPP) method, BT contract type (build - transfer).
According to the proposed plan, the project includes two main components. In which, Rung Sac road will be upgraded on a length of more than 35 km, from the Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway intersection to the main axis in Can Gio sea encroachment urban area. The cross-section is expanded from 6 existing lanes to 10 lanes, including 8 motorized lanes and 2 parallel lanes.
Along with that, Highway 15B is nearly 2 km long, from D1 road (Tan My ward, old District 7) to the boundary of the Can Gio bridge project, with a scale of 6 lanes (4 motorized lanes and 2 parallel lanes).
The preliminary total investment of the entire project is more than 19,000 billion VND, including site clearance costs and loan interest during construction. The investor plans to arrange all capital sources and deploy them in the period 2026 - 2028 if approved.
According to the proposed unit, the Can Gio area (including Binh Khanh, Can Gio, An Thoi Dong, Thanh An communes) is still "island" in nature, connecting with the rest of Ho Chi Minh City mainly depends on the Binh Khanh ferry. Moving from the city center through the South to Can Gio is still limited, affecting socio-economic development.
In that context, the investment in road 15B and upgrading Rung Sac road is considered urgent to form a continuous traffic axis, directly connecting from Nguyen Luong Bang road (old District 7), through Nha Be to Can Gio bridge.
Road 15B plays a role in sharing traffic pressure for existing axes such as Huynh Tan Phat and Nguyen Huu Tho.
Rung Sac road is currently the only road leading to Can Gio, which has been upgraded and expanded since 2004 with a total capital of more than 1,561 billion VND, completed and put into use in 2011 with a scale of 6 lanes.
When large projects such as Can Gio bridge, Can Gio sea encroachment urban area and inter-regional traffic routes are put into operation, the traffic volume is forecast to increase sharply. If not expanded in time, this road is at risk of becoming a "bottleneck", reducing the efficiency of the entire connecting infrastructure system.
After receiving the proposal, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance consulted with relevant departments, branches and localities. The units basically agreed on the necessity of the project.
However, due to the scope of upgrading having some contents overlapping with public investment projects that are in the policy making stage, the Department of Finance proposed to temporarily suspend it for review, ensuring synchronous implementation and avoiding duplication.
In addition to Rung Sac road, many large infrastructure projects have been and are about to be implemented to connect the Can Gio area such as Ben Thanh - Can Gio metro line, Can Gio bridge, Can Gio - Vung Tau sea crossing, Rung Sac intersection with Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway.
