Workers at a construction site to upgrade HCMC's Huynh Tan Phat
Street, November 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Minh. 

HCMC is expected to complete four major transport infrastructure projects in 2021, helping relieve congestion and flooding and vastly improving connectivity. 

An upgrade of Huynh Tan Phat Street in District 7 is expected to finish in January, Luong Minh Phuc, director of the HCMC Management Board of Investment and Construction of Traffic Projects, which oversees the work, said on Thursday.

Upgrade of the section of the street from Phu Xuan Bridge to Binh Khanh Ferry began in April 2020 at a cost of around VND300 billion ($12.9 million), with a drainage system being built, the road being raised, additional lights installed, and trees planted.

The work is 90 percent complete, Phuc said.

Huynh Tan Phat is a vital traffic route connecting downtown Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Khanh Ferry through Can Gio District. But it is often congested during rush hour and flooded during rains and high tides.

The upgrade is expected to decongest HCMC's southern entrance.

Construction of My Thuy 3 Bridge in HCMC on December 29, 2020.
Photo by VnExpress/Gia Minh.

Also expected to be completed in January is My Thuy 3 Bridge. Part of the second phase of the My Thuy Intersection work in District 2, its construction began in March 2020 at a cost of VND57 billion.

The bridge, being built between the My Thuy 1 and 2 bridges, is 75 m long and forks into two. The road leading to the bridge is 24 m wide with six car lanes.

After the My Thuy Intersection second phase is completed at a cost of VND1.43 trillion ($61.48 million) the entire area is expected to see reduced congestion leading to fewer accidents, and improve traffic flows to Cat Lai Port in District 2, which gets around 19,000 vehicles a day.

Upgrade work in progress on HCMC's Nguyen Huu Canh Street
on December 28, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Minh.

Another road set for an upgrade is the 3.2-km Nguyen Huu Canh in District 1 and Binh Thanh District.

The work is expected to be completed in April and help reduce flooding. It began in October 2018 at a cost of VND473 billion and is managed by the HCMC Management Board of Investment and Construction of Traffic Projects.

It is now 65 percent complete, with work on the section from Ton Duc Thang Street to Thu Thiem Bridge having been completed.

Work on the remaining section from Thu Thiem Bridge to Saigon Bridge is underway.

An aerial view of Thu Thiem 2 Bridge under construction
in HCMC in December 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.

Construction of Thu Thiem 2 Bridge over Saigon River between Districts 1 and 2 is expected to be completed in September. It will be over 1.4 km long and have six lanes.

The work began in 2015 at a cost of nearly VND3.1 trillion. Connecting the Thu Thiem new urban area with downtown HCMC, it will be one of the city’s new icons.

It was originally scheduled to be completed in 2018, but issues related to relocating people caused delays. It is now 70 percent complete, and city authorities are working on resolving the relocation issues quickly to speed up progress.