The above information was confirmed by the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board (Traffic Board - investor) on May 7.
According to the Traffic Department, although the main items such as tunnel structure, lighting system and traffic signs have been basically completed, the HC1-01 underpass cannot still be opened to traffic on April 30 as planned.
The reason is that the drainage pumping station item has not been completed, due to complex geological conditions and high groundwater levels, leading to many technical problems that require more processing time.
The Traffic Department said it is focusing on coordinating with consulting units and contractors to speed up the progress, with the goal of completing the pumping station and putting the HC1-01 tunnel into operation by June 30, 2025.
The HC1-01 underpass is 480 m long, including 4 lanes, with a total investment of about 341 billion VND. The tunnel is located at the intersection between Mai Chi Tho Avenue and Dong Van Cong Street.
Previously, in April 2024, when closing the Mai Chi Tho - Dong Van Cong intersection to construct the HC1-01 tunnel, the Traffic Department said it would be completed on September 2, 2024, but this progress mark was not reached.
After that, the Traffic Department planned to open the road to traffic on April 30, 2025, but until now it has been postponed until the end of June.
Earlier, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City had directed to request the Director of the Transport Committee to urgently complete the drainage pump station of the HC1-01 tunnel at the latest on April 29, 2025. If not completed on time, the Director of the Board will be reviewed and reported to the Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for handling according to regulations.
Up to now, the progress of the entire An Phu intersection project is behind schedule compared to the original plan. The project started construction at the end of 2022, with a total investment of more than VND 3,400 billion, with the goal of completing the entire project by April 30, 2025.
However, this plan has been postponed until the end of 2025, and this deadline is still difficult to ensure, due to some items that are still slow, especially site clearance.
On Luong Dinh Cua Street - where there is a connecting branch of the An Phu intersection, there are still 22,000 m2 of land that have not been handed over, due to overlapping with the An Phu urban area project (scale of 88.03 ha).
Not only the HC1-01 tunnel, the project also has another underpass, HC1-02, 760 m long, also including 4 lanes, with a total investment of about 343 billion VND, directly connecting the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway with Mai Chi Tho Street. However, this tunnel has only reached more than 70% of the construction volume.
Up to now, the An Phu intersection project has only completed some items such as Giong Ong To bridge and Ba Dat bridge. However, these two bridges have not yet been put into operation due to waiting for the underpass and overpass items to be completed synchronously.
Meanwhile, the other 5 overpass branches in the project are only constructing the bridge piers.
The prolonged construction has caused traffic congestion at the An Phu intersection, especially during rush hour.
This is the connection point of a series of key traffic routes such as Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway, Mai Chi Tho Avenue, Nguyen Thi Dinh, Luong Dinh Cua and Dong Van Cong.
On average, this area has to "carry" about 22,000 container trucks per day, causing great pressure on infrastructure and affecting people's lives and travel.
