On June 17, the National Committee of the Vietnam Human and Biosphere Program (Vietnam National MAB Committee) sent a document to the People's Committee of Dong Nai province, the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on the implementation of the construction of Ma Da bridge and the traffic route connecting Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai provinces through Dong Nai World Biosphere Reserve.
In the document, the National Assembly Committee of MAB Vietnam believes that in case the People's Committee of Dong Nai province decides to implement the project, at the design stage, it is necessary to choose an optimal route, the project should follow the existing route to minimize the extra growth of forest; Prioritize the route to avoid ecological sensitive areas, especially the habitats of rare and endemic plant and animal species; Prioritize the exploitation of vacant land areas and land with low ecological value, minimize the conversion of forest land and forestry land.
According to the National Assembly Committee of MAB Vietnam, the design of bridges and roads must ensure the principles of preservation and development, and priority should be given to designing elevated roads along the entire route with negative barriers and light blocking from vehicles (the cable car bridge is the best).
In particular, it is necessary to design and build an elevated road from Ma Da bridge to Ba Hao intersection, the remaining section can consider a suitable option for the terrain and characteristics of the area.
In case of maintaining road sections on the ground, it is necessary to implement the following auxiliary solutions such as: building ecological overpasses, building some underpasses for wildlife (small-sized) at important points to avoid environmental degradation, having negative barriers, blocking light from vehicles on all road sections on the ground.
The National Assembly Committee of MAB Vietnam also recommends the environmental impact assessment, construction, operation, supervision, assessment and restoration, environmental regeneration stages...
On June 16, the People's Committee of Dong Nai province also worked on the progress of the investment project for Ma Da bridge and the road leading from Ma Da bridge to Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4.
Previously, in April 2025, Chairman of Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee Vo Tan Duc signed a decision to issue a plan to speed up the implementation of the Ma Da bridge project and traffic routes connecting Dong Nai province and Binh Phuoc province, creating conditions for traffic connection between the two provinces.
The road project from Ma Da bridge to the intersection with Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 4 (phase 1) has a scale of 4 lanes, with a total investment of VND 11,020 billion. Of which, Ma Da bridge is about 220 billion VND and the 44 km long route is about 10,800 billion VND.
