After more than 5 years of "shelving", the project of section 3 of Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 2 (from Go Dua intersection to Pham Van Dong Street) is gradually being restarted.
At the construction site, the investor has conducted a general cleaning of the site, cleared weeds, collected waste, and gathered machinery and equipment to be ready for the entire route.
Mr. Nguyen The Vinh - General Director of Van Phu Bac Ai Joint Stock Company (project investor) said that he had fully prepared financial resources, personnel and equipment.
"As soon as the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee signs the contract adjustment appendix this month, we will start construction again at the end of this year and strive to complete it in 2026" - Mr. Vinh said.
Section 3 of Ring Road 2 started construction in 2017, with a total investment of more than VND 2,700 billion under the BT (build - transfer) form.
The project is more than 2.7 km long, with a site clearance scale of 67 m, built 2 parallel roads with 3 lanes on each side; the land is in the middle of the reserve to be expanded later.
According to the plan, the project will be completed in 2020, helping to connect Pham Van Dong Street and National Highway 1 smoothly, shortening the travel distance, reducing pressure on National Highway 13.
However, since March 2020, the project has only reached more than 43% of the volume that had to be temporarily suspended due to land clearance problems, and has not signed an appendix to adjust the contract and pay land funds to investors.
In early 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee decided to postpone the project completion deadline to 2026, but for nearly two years, the project has been "frozen" because it has not signed an appendix to adjust the BT contract.
The completion of this Ring Road 2 section is considered an urgent task, in the context of National Highway 13 preparing to enter the expansion construction phase.
According to Mr. Tran Quang Lam - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, the project to upgrade National Highway 13 (from Binh Trieu Bridge to Vinh Binh Bridge) is nearly 6 km long and will start construction in June 2026 and be completed in 2028.
This project has a total investment of about 20,900 billion VND under a BOT (build - operate - transfer) contract.
The route is expanded to 60 m, of which about 3.2 km between the route to build a 4-lane elevated road. The two parallel roads below are 3 lanes wide on each side. The project also builds 2 two-way underpasses at the Binh Loi and Binh Phuoc intersections.
Currently, the section of National Highway 13 through Binh Duong area is being expanded to 8 lanes, while the section through Ho Chi Minh City is only 4 - 6 lanes wide, becoming a "bottleneck", often congested for many years.
From mid-2026, National Highway 13 will become a large construction site, having to be partially fenced off for construction. With a large population density and high travel demand, the risk of prolonged congestion is inevitable.
In that context, if the Ring Road 2 section from Go Dua intersection to Pham Van Dong Street is completed in 2026, this route will act as a "new gate", helping to significantly reduce the load on the Northeast gateway of Ho Chi Minh City.
Vehicles from National Highway 1 can pass through Go Dua intersection, follow Ring Road 2 to Pham Van Dong Street to get to the center of Ho Chi Minh City. On the opposite afternoon, vehicles from the center can follow Pham Van Dong - Ring Road 2 to National Highway 1, avoiding going through the construction barrier of National Highway 13.
